Structural and thermal trials confirmed that the 3-inch-thick foam insulation layer will protect Dragonfly's instruments and systems.
Dragonfly is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Dragonfly is a nuclear-powered, car-sized rotorcraft built at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) that will explore Saturn's moon Titan over a three-year mission.
NASA Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel conducted rotor performance tests to study stresses, vibrations, and aeromechanics under Titan-like atmospheric conditions for Dragonfly.
NASA Goddard scientists completed the Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer, a core element of the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS) designed to identify Titan's chemical composition.
Data from rotor performance tests will inform Dragonfly's navigation and flight software.
Dragonfly will embark on a six-year cruise to reach Titan, where it will fly between diverse landing sites to analyze Titan's habitability and search for chemical precursors of life.
The two CubeSats scheduled for release at 5:25 PM to 6:00 PM are 'GHS-01' and 'DRAGONFLY,' both measuring 2U.
DRAGONFLY will host a digital communication competition utilizing the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) for amateur radio operators to share real-time position information, weather data, and messages.
DRAGONFLY will also demonstrate volcanic activity monitoring using APRS.
DRAGONFLY was designed and manufactured by Kyushu Institute of Technology.
NASA awarded a contract to SpaceX on 2024-11-25 valued at $256,600,000 for the Falcon Heavy launch and related services for Dragonfly during a launch window running from 2024-07-05 to 2028-07-25.
NASA selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch the Dragonfly mission to Titan in 2028.
NASA attributed Dragonfly’s cost increases to budget restrictions that stretched out early development phases and delayed the launch from 2026 to 2028.
The New Frontiers program had set a cost cap of $850,000,000 at the time of Dragonfly’s selection in 2019, excluding launch and operations.
NASA selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the Dragonfly mission under NASA’s New Frontiers Program.
For fiscal years 2025 through 2028, NASA is projecting spending $1,680,000,000 on Dragonfly, which is double the projection for the same period in its 2024 proposal.
When NASA selected Dragonfly in June 2019 as a New Frontiers mission, the mission had a Phase A–D cost cap of $850 million, excluding launch and post-launch operations.
NASA will procure a heavy-lift launch vehicle for Dragonfly later 2024 to enable arrival at Titan in 2034.
The 2034 Titan arrival date for Dragonfly matches the date planned when NASA selected the mission in 2019 despite a two-year slip in launch timing since selection.