/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15849157
Designing Dragonfly, NASA’s Titan explorer (the article is a year old)
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https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/features/designing-dragonfly-nasas-titan-explorer/
> A planetary lander that can fly to new sampling sites will be able to do far more surface science than a slow, trundling rover. Easy flight in the super-dense atmosphere and ultra-low gravity of Saturn’s cryogenic moon, Titan, makes it the perfect celestial body on which to test the idea. Paul Marks spoke to the team behind NASA’s Dragonfly.
> In 2034, high above Saturn’s largest moon, the handiwork performed years earlier by engineers at a laboratory in Maryland will snap into action, if all goes as planned. After a six-and-a-half-year cruise through deep space, punctuated by a gravity assist from Venus, a NASA-funded probe will plunge into the thick orange haze of Titan’s upper atmosphere, a heat shield protecting the planetary explorer ensconced in its aeroshell from the incandescence of atmospheric entry.
> This explorer, Dragonfly, will be unique in the annals of space exploration. An octocopter roughly the size of a Mini Cooper, it will fly out of the aeroshell and descend to its nominal flight altitude of 400 meters, where it will train lidar and high-resolution cameras on the terrain below to seek a safe, solid landing spot.