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Mission NASA Dragonfly, which will begin in 2028, aims to investigate the habitability and organic chemistry of Saturn's moon Titan using a new helicopter lander.
NASA chose SpaceX to launch its Dragonfly mission, an ambitious project under the New Frontiers program. Dragonfly is a rotorcraft lander designed to explore Saturn's moon Titan, where it will collect samples and analyze surface composition in various geological environments. The mission is aimed at deepening our understanding of the building blocks of life.
The contract, valued at approximately $256,6 million, covers launch services and related mission costs. The mission is scheduled to launch between July 5 and 25, 2028, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Dragonfly focuses on a new approach to planetary exploration, using a helicopter lander to travel between and explore different locations on Saturn's largest moon. With contributions from partners around the world, the Dragonfly research program will characterize the habitability of Titan's environment, investigate the development of prebiotic chemistry on Titan, where carbon-rich material and liquid water could have mixed for long periods, and look for chemical signatures of whether life once existed on Saturn's moon based on water or hydrocarbons.
