Saturn's moon Titan is among the greatest satellites in the solar system. Titan is the only moon that has a recorded atmosphere and liquid presence, a great factor to stand out from the roster of satellites that revolve around the system's planets. In addition, Titan's weather system is comparable to our planet, but the rainfall is composed of methane rather than hydrogen oxide.
NASA Dragonfly Mission to Titan: Key Interests
NASA Dragonfly will be the first mission to be sent to Titan's surface. The mission will be launched sometime in the 2030s, and the factors and goals of Saturn's moon landing are currently at work.
Along with the preparations, the experts behind the astronomical breakthrough mission recently released a paper regarding the anticipated milestones of the Dragonfly mission. The study was published in The Planetary Science Journal, titled "Science Goals and Objectives for the Dragonfly Titan Rotorcraft Relocatable Lander." The research was led by Dragonfly principal researcher and University of Idaho professor Jason Barnes.
Dragonfly's goals, according to the research, include the collection of biosignatures, methane cycle observation, and other examinations suited for the chemical composition that will be found on the Titan's surface, as well as in its atmosphere.
Dragonfly research co-author and College of Arts and Sciences astronomy expert Alex Hayes expressed his excitement for the mission, saying that the Dragonfly's mission to Titan is an astronomical explorer's utopia.
According to a report by PhysOrg, Hayes said that there are many questions revolving around the moon Titan that do not have scientific answers. Every puzzling question is broad, as little strong evidence from the moon has only been established. Hayes added that for every answer we learned from Cassini mission's previous Titan exploration, we are given 10 new puzzles.
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Dragonfly Mission First to Land on Titan's Surface
NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn's orbit has been conducted in a span of 13 years. With the new breakthroughs discovered from the mission, Cassini was challenged to collect the best out of Titan's features and structure due to its thick methane atmosphere. Although Cassini was able to reveal the surface formation behind the moon's atmosphere through radar technology, it was still impossible for the probe to image the exact compositions of dunes, mountains, and lakes.
NASA's Huygens probe also conducted a similar observation that Cassini had performed. Launched in 2005, the Huygens probe was strictly designed to either float on liquid bodies or land on hard surfaces. In addition, the probe was located with specialized materials that can withstand methane and ethane chemicals.
However, the probe was only allowed to do an investigation in the atmosphere of Titan, as experts back then are not 100% convinced that the Huygens probe could actually resist extremities. With that said, Dragonfly will be the first official probe to land on Titan's surface and the first to encounter the mysterious chemical composition of the moon's surface.
The Dragonfly Titan mission will include a large itinerary for chemical biosignature observations and will attempt to collect evidence of water-based life from the moon's liquid bodies. Cornell Chronicle reported that along with these examinations, other studies will be relayed by Dragonfly to see if the Titan's conditions are fit for human habitat.
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