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SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Dragonfly Nuclear powered Helicopter to Saturn’s moon

Nasa like the idea of using a helicopter to move around Mars that they are doing one for Saturns moon....

Dragonfly aircraft would fly above the frozen Titan surface

Named Dragonfly, the spacecraft, which is set to launch in 2026 and reach its target in 2034, will function like a large drone, flying to numerous sites, where its science instruments will analyze surface composition, atmospheric properties, and subsurface oceans and lakes to search for chemical evidence of life in both the present and distant past, and determine how far pre-biotic chemistry has evolved.

http://dragonfly.jhuapl.edu/

During its 2.7-year-mission, Dragonfly will visit the most promising sites on Titan in terms of habitability, using the moon’s thick atmosphere to fly from one site to another. Composed of eight rotors, the spacecraft will be the first multi-rotor object to visit and study another world.

The probe will collect samples from a variety of geographic terrains, including the floors of impact craters that once harbored both water and complex organics, liquid reservoirs, and subsurface oceans. Current plans call for it to fly over 108 miles (175 km) around Titan during the mission’s duration.

Sems like a very interesting mission searching for the signs of early....

GW Johnson

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From: McGregor, Texas USA

Registered: 2011-12-04

Posts: 5,801

Website

Re: Dragonfly Nuclear powered Helicopter to Saturn’s moon

Helo will work a lot better in Titan's thick atmosphere than it will on Mars.

GW

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GW Johnson
McGregor,  Texas

"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew,  especially one dead from a bad management decision"

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Dragonfly Nuclear powered Helicopter to Saturn’s moon

Which leaves energy in the form of some sort of kilowatt system such as what we are calling KRUSTY....
This is a thermal stirling to electrical power system...

Not much yet on the website for design details.

8 props that are short means high speed and lits of current to run and its 4 motors to drive them at a minimum.

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Dragonfly Nuclear powered Helicopter to Saturn’s moon

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/dragonfly-on-titan

NASA already has one helicopter mission in development: A rotorcraft called Dragonfly is set to launch toward Saturn's moon Titan in 2027. It aims to investigate whether that methane-rich world could host alien life.

Tmcom

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Registered: 2017-03-02

Posts: 840

Re: Dragonfly Nuclear powered Helicopter to Saturn’s moon

All of these worlds are yours except Europa, attempt no landing there, or a black monolith will teabag you.

Well, something like that.

Mars_B4_Moon

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Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Dragonfly Nuclear powered Helicopter to Saturn’s moon

Dragonfly mission to Titan announces big science goals
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-dragonfly … ience.html

Mars_B4_Moon

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Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Dragonfly Nuclear powered Helicopter to Saturn’s moon

Meet ‘Poseidon,’ The Jaw-Dropping Mission To Send An Army Of Drones To Titan, Saturn’s Giant Moon
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecarte … uid-lakes/

Scientists Propose Sending a Fleet of Drones to Explore the Lakes of Titan
https://interestingengineering.com/send … s-of-titan

A Titan mission could refuel on site and return a sample to Earth
https://phys.org/visualstories/2021-03- … sample.amp

Zibi Turtle: Titan of Exploration
https://www.jhuapl.edu/FeatureStory/191022

The science and engineering behind this daring mission to Titan are fascinating. Dragonfly, a rotorcraft lander, will study environments on this distant moon of Saturn — its largest — such as dunes and impact craters, where liquid water and complex organic materials key to life may have mixed. With a comprehensive package of scientific instruments, Dragonfly will study how far this “prebiotic” chemistry may have progressed — sampling materials thought to contain the organic building blocks of life — while also investigating the moon’s geology and its unique atmosphere. Flying (instead of driving, like the Mars rovers) will allow Dragonfly to cover over 100 miles and explore at least 20 different landing sites during its more than 2½-year mission.

It’s a game-changing method of planetary exploration with potential to revolutionize how we understand the chemistry that led to the development of life on Earth.

NASA Engineer: Humans Should Consider Settling Saturn’s Moon Titan
https://futurism.com/nasa-engineer-huma … ling-titan

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2021-12-03 14:55:19)

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Dragonfly Nuclear powered Helicopter to Saturn’s moon

I did remember but had to try a few searches but found the topic and gave the first post additional words.

Nuclear-powered Dragonfly mission to Saturn moon Titan delayed until 2028, NASA says

NASA has set a provisional launch date of July 2028 for its Dragonfly mission, meant to explore Saturn’s largest moon Titan, with budgetary uncertainty cited as the reason for the project’s one-year delay.

The Dragonfly team can now move forward with the next stage of development  —  Phase C  —  for the car-sized, nuclear-powered rotorcraft drone that will fly above and land on the sands of Titan, a world planetary scientists believe is rich in organic molecules.

Unlike mars the timing is less important for the delay.

Seems NASA budget is the cause of the delay.

Several Dragonfly components, including its control and navigation systems, have already been tested over the deserts of California  —  chosen for its resemblance to the sand dunes of Titan  —  as well as in wind tunnels at NASA's Langley Research Center. A full-scale model has also been tested in Johns Hopkins APL's massive Titan Chamber  —  which simulates the frigid temperatures and atmospheric pressures of Titan's methane-rich environment.

So a final is based on the testing yet to come for a full scale unit.