NASA Dragonfly Launch Delayed
NASA has delayed the launch of its Dragonfly drone meant to fly on Saturn’s Titan moon by one year to 2027 due to budget challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic.
The mission was originally scheduled to launch in 2025 but was delayed to 2026 with everything looking ready to go. But due to the external factors including COIVD-19 the mission has been delayed once again to 2027.
The Dragonfly mission is a part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program which will be used to test materials of Titan’s surface. The samples will be brought back to the Earth when the mission is over and they will past the test to see if humans could someday live on the Moon.
Dragonfly mission delivers a rotorcraft to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon with a dense atmosphere, to advance our search for the building blocks of life. There will not be any changes in the mission architecture to accommodate this new date, and launching later will not affect the scientific part of the mission.
Lori Glaze, Director for the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington said:
NASA has the utmost confidence in the Dragonfly team to deliver a successful mission that conducts compelling science. 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.
Dragonfly is considered as the first NASA multi-rotor vehicle which will fly for science on another planet. Keeping in mind that Titan’s atmosphere is four times denser than Earth’s – it will also become the first vehicle ever to fly its entire science payload to multiple locations for targeted access to surface materials.
NASA had warned that attempts to overcome the consequences of the pandemic would incur expenses to its science programs that would need to be accommodated somehow by the agency. NASA will allow its scientists to apply for enhancements for existing awards, supporting students and early-career professionals.
