Due to external considerations including COVID-19, NASA has postponed the launch of its Dragonfly drone to fly on Saturn's Titan moon to 2027. The Dragonfly mission seeks to explore Saturn's Titan surface to search for building blocks of life.
The decision to move back the launch date for the Dragonfly mission was made public in an article published by NASA, with external variables being the reason for the delay.
Originally, the task was scheduled to launch in 2025, but NASA decided on a one year delay with everything looking ready to go. But the mission has been postponed to 2027 again due to external considerations, including the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
"NASA has the utmost confidence in the Dragonfly team to deliver a successful mission that conducts compelling science." Lori Glaze, Director for the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said. Dragonfly will significantly increase our understanding of this richly organic world and help answer key astrobiology questions in our search to understand the processes that supported the development of life on Earth."
As part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, the Dragonfly mission will be used to study materials from the surface of Titan. When the project is over, the samples will be taken back to Earth, where they will undergo tests to see if people could one day survive on the moon. The drone will complete the following calculations while on Saturn's Titan moon:
- Sample the surface content and calculate the chemical components and processes creating biologically important compounds using a mass spectrometer to classify
- Using a neutron-activated gamma-ray spectrometer to test bulk elemental surface composition
- Track atmosphere and surface conditions with meteorology instruments, including diurnal and spatial changes,
- Using imagery to describe geological characteristics
- To detect subsurface behavior and structure, conduct seismic studies
- Contribute to profiles in the atmosphere
- Provide aerial photographs of the geology of surfaces
- Background for calculation of surfaces and monitoring of points of interest
Dragonfly is the first time NASA has flown a science-based multi-rotor spacecraft to another planet. Titan was picked based on its similarity with Earth. It is called an ocean world and is the only moon to have a thick atmosphere in the solar system that supports our home planet's "hydrological cycle of methane clouds, rain, and liquid streaming over the surface to fill lakes and seas." The surface of the moon consists of complex organic materials that are perfect for scientific purposes and to explore it and see whether one day we may survive on it.
