NASA Selects SpaceX for Groundbreaking Dragonfly Mission to Titan

Artist’s concept of Dragonfly soaring over the dunes of Saturn’s moon Titan. (Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)

NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the rotorcraft lander mission commonly known for Dragonfly mission under NASA's New Frontiers Program which is designed to explore Saturn's moon Titan to collect samples and study the surface of different areas to help us understand the building blocks of life.

The contract for this mission is worth about approximately $256.6 million which covers the cost of launching and other mission related expenses. The mission is planned to launch from July 5, 2028 to July 25, 2028 using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Dragonfly focuses on a new approach to planetary exploration which can easily travel to different locations on Saturn's largest moon Titan to collect samples by using rotorcraft lander. The mission is contributing by different scientists from around the world. The Dragonfly's scientific payload will characterize life potential of Titan’s environment, investigate the evolution of prebiotic chemistry on Titan where carbon-rich materials and liquid water may have mixed over long periods of time and search for chemical signatures of whether water-based or hydrocarbon-based life ever existed on Saturn's moon.

NASA's Kennedy Space Center is responsible for managing the launch service. The Dragonfly team include scientists, engineers, technologists, managers and more who have deep experience in rotorcraft, autonomous flight and space missions from around the world at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. Dragonfly is the fourth mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.