NASA’s Dragonfly mission has cleared several key design, development and testing milestones and remains on track toward launch in July 2028.
Dragonfly, a car-sized, nuclear-powered rotorcraft being designed and built for NASA at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, will explore Saturn’s moon Titan. Following launch and a six-year journey to Titan, the Dragonfly rotorcraft will spend over three years investigating multiple landing sites across the moon’s diverse surface. Flying a comprehensive science package, Dragonfly seeks to understand Titan habitability and the building blocks of life as we know it.
Hardware is being built and software developed, tests are being completed and analyses verified as the team progresses through its development schedule.
“Dragonfly has moved far beyond a concept on a computer screen — the components of the rotorcraft lander are being built as scientists and engineers transform this bold exploration idea into reality,” said Elizabeth “Zibi” Turtle, Dragonfly principal investigator from APL. “From the cleanrooms to the wind tunnels, we’re performing critical tests that are informing our next steps of development and demonstrating how Dragonfly will perform on and above Titan’s surface.”
Recent tests have included aerodynamic analyses of Dragonfly’s rotors and durability trials of the foam coating that will insulate the rotorcraft from Titan’s frigid temperatures. The science payload is also coming together, with instrument components delivered and set up for additional testing. Flight systems are also being evaluated, and the flight radio has been delivered and tested.
Riding the Wind
APL and NASA engineers are wrapping up a monthlong campaign to confirm the performance of Dragonfly’s rotors in Titan-like conditions at the NASA Langley Research Center’s Transonic Dynamics Tunnel in Virginia.
Bathing the sensor-laden model in a flow of heavy gas that simulates Titan’s thick atmosphere, the testing team has been gathering data on the rotor system’s aeromechanical performance — looking at factors like stress loads on the rotor arms, and effects of vibration on the rotor blades and lander body — information that will eventually feed into Dragonfly’s flight plans and navigation software.
After setting up the full-scale, half-width Dragonfly model, team members from APL, NASA and partner institutions prepare to start tests in the NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel facility.