The American space agency, NASA has confirmed that the Dragonfly mission to Titana moon of Saturn rich in organic matter will be launched in July 2028.
From now on, the mission team has four years to finalize the final design of the shipbuild it and test its scientific instruments.
The announcement was made this week by the associate administrator of the NASA Science Mission DirectorateNicky Fox, who stressed that “Dragonfly is a spectacular scientific mission with broad interest from the community. Exploring Titan will push the limits of what we can do with helicopters outside of Earth”.
The mission, which will cost $3.35 billionwas initially scheduled for 2026, but has been delayed by two years due to budget restrictions and additional costs caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
Dragonfly will reach the surface of Titan in 2034 and fly over dozens of places on the satellite in search of common prebiotic chemical processes both on Titan and on early Earth before life developed.
The helicopter, equipped with eight rotors and flying like a drone, will be the first scientific vehicle of the POT that will fly over another planetary body.
The robot will explore from sand dunes to the floor of a crater where scientists hope to find liquid water and other organic materials that could offer clues about the origin of life that may have existed on that celestial body tens of thousands of years ago.
Dragonfly is being designed and built under the direction of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Marylandwhich manages the mission for NASA.