Dragonfly
Dragonfly is NASA's 4th New Frontiers program mission that will send a robotic rotorcraft to fly within the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan to sample materials and determine surface composition in different geologic settings, advancing humanity's search for the building blocks of life.
The craft is a large quadcopter with double rotors with mass of about 875 kg, featuring rotors of 1.35 m in diameter. It can fly through several kilometers within an hour and will perform 1 flight per Titan day (~16 Earth days). During the planned 3.3-year mission, Dragonfly is expected to cover distance up to several hundred km.
Dragonfly will use a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) to power its instruments.
The planned science instrument suite is: * DragonCam: Camera Suite * DrACO: Drill for Acquisition of Complex Organics * DraMS: Mass Spectrometer * DraGNS: Gamma-ray and Neutron Spectrometer * DraGMet: Geophysics and Meteorology
Related launches
| No. | Mission | Date | Rocket | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | NROL-97 | 02 Oct 2026 | Falcon Heavy | Go |
| 02 | SDA Tranche 1 Transport Layer A | 05 Oct 2026 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Go |
| 03 | Starlink Group 15-25 | 10 Oct 2026 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Go |
| 04 | Dragon CRS-2 SpX-35 | 13 Oct 2026 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | TBD |
| 05 | Bandwagon 5 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare) | 31 Oct 2026 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | TBD |
| 06 | Crew-17 | 31 Dec 2028 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | TBD |
| 07 | Al Yah 5 | 31 Dec 2028 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | TBD |
| 08 | Transporter 18 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare) | 01 Oct 2026 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Success |
| 09 | Crew-13 | 01 Oct 2026 | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Success |
| 10 | Starlink Group 31-1 (Starship Flight 14) | 28 Sept 2026 | Starship V3 | Success |