NASA Dragonfly Mission: $3.35 B Saturn Moon ‘Titan’ Exploration Now Approved

Last week, NASA officially approved and confirmed the Dragonfly mission, which has a $3.35 billion budget for the entire mission. The mission will explore Saturn's moon Titan.

The project was first unveiled in 2019 and was originally selected by the company almost five years ago. However, due to the 2020 to 2022 COVID-19 pandemic, massive delays were faced in replacing the mission.

After the deliberation from last year that went back on its 2019 selection, NASA has now marked the mission date, which would commence four years from now.

NASA Dragonfly Mission is Approved with $3.35 Billion Budget

The Dragonfly mission is a go, with NASA recently greenlighting and approving the future venture that would focus on bringing the six-rotor blade helicopter to Saturn's Titan moon.

The mission was also given a $3.35 billion total lifecycle cost budget, with its launch date slated for July 2028.

"Dragonfly is a spectacular science mission with broad community interest, and we are excited to take the next steps on this mission," said Nicky Fox, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Exploring Titan will push the boundaries of what we can do with rotorcraft outside of Earth."

This mission would center on the robotic Dragonfly rotorcraft, the first mobile robot explorer to carry out its mission outside the planet. It is also the second flying drone to explore another planetary body next to NASA's defunct Ingenuity Mars helicopter which flew for 72 missions.

Dragonfly Mission to Explore Saturn's 'Titan' Moon

This recent approval of the Dragonfly mission is already twice as much as the original proposed budget, with NASA adding additional funding for its heavy-lift launch vehicle that would help shorten its cruise phase.

NASA said that it is expecting the Dragonfly rotorcraft to arrive at Titan by 2034, around six years since its launch from the Earth, and would explore the massive moon looking for signs of life and more.

Saturn Probe and NASA's Dragonfly

The ring-surrounded planet of Saturn is best known for being one of NASA's subjects for space exploration, with various phenomena of and on the planet monitored by the company for years.

One of the most renowned probes here is the Cassini mission, with the spacecraft that flew from 2004 to 2017 discovering 'building blocks for life' on Enceladus, its icy moon.

Of course, the rings of Saturn itself are a massive subject of investigation for NASA, one where it employed the likes of Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope to learn more about it.

Hubble was able to previously monitor a unique phenomenon on Saturn where its ring system brings heat to the planet's atmosphere, learning about it only last year.

Apart from Cassini's discovery, NASA is looking to turn its attention to Titan, believed to be a rich and organic world, with the Dragonfly mission dedicating itself to learning more about it.

The Dragonfly was almost five years in the making before its approval, and it will take another four years before it begins the mission towards Titan, approved for 2028.