Drone 'Dragonfly'

Why is it in news?
  • NASA said that it's sending a drone called Dragonfly to explore Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
More in news
  • Inspection for Life: Using propellers, the drone will fly and land on several spots on the icy moon to study whether it can support microbial life.
  • Part of New Frontiers program:
    (1) The nuclear-powered mission is part of NASA's competitive New Frontiers program, which launched the New Horizons spacecraft that became the first to visit dwarf planet Pluto.
    (2) Dragonfly beat out nearly a dozen proposed projects, including a mission to collect samples from a nearby comet.
  • Launch schedule:
    (1) The drone is slated to launch in 2026 and arrive at Titan in 2034.
    (2) The plan is to land on some of Titan's dunes and later on a crater.
    (3) Development costs for the mission are capped at around USD 850 million.
  • Titan:
    (1) Titan is a haze-covered world with a thick atmosphere.
    (2) The moon has lakes of methane, mountains of ice and an ocean below the surface, making it an attractive place to explore whether its environment can support primitive life.
    (3) Titan was last studied by the international Cassini-Huygens mission.
    (4) In 2017, the Cassini spacecraft plunged into Saturn, ending two decades of exploration. 
Source
The Hindu
 
 
 
 
Posted by Jawwad Kazi on 29th Jun 2019
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