/sci/ - Science & Math

Dragonfly will be landing in Shangri-la dunes, and will fly north to Selk crater, just north of Titan's equator.
It's scheduled to land in 2034, when Titan would be transitioning from Winter to Spring in the northern hemisphere, meaning the lakes will begin to evaporate as it warms. The primary mission goals for the initial 3 years of operation will hang around Selk crater exclusively. By the end of those 3 years, the northern hemisphere will be well into Spring, near the start of Summer, in which the most shallow lakes will have evaporated.
Titan's circumference 10,052mi/16,177km. Assuming the all lakes in picrel are deep enough to not have evaporated, the closest lake to Selk crater is roughly 3,000mi/4,800km away.
Dragonfly is planned to make one "hop" per Titan day (16 Earth days). A hop is expected to be at least 10 miles. Lets be generous and say 30mi per hop. This equates to 100 hops, or 1600 days (4.38 Earth years). Conceivably a mission extension could spend 4-5 years flying nonstop without breaks to the nearest lake. Unfortunately, we have no way to know where the nearest lakes will actually be, as by then (2042) the northern hemisphere will be deep into Summer, and all of the lakes closest to the equator mapped by Cassini will be gone. There won't be an orbiter on this mission to tell us where they are either. It's unlikely that a mission extension will be approved to search for the closest lakes.

>>16139938
Dragonfly will be landing in Shangri-la dunes, and will fly north to Selk crater, just north of Titan's equator.
It's scheduled to land in 2034, when Titan would be transitioning from Winter to Spring in the northern hemisphere, meaning the lakes will begin to evaporate as it warms. The primary mission goals for the initial 3 years of operation will hang around Selk crater exclusively. By the end of those 3 years, the northern hemisphere will be well into Spring, near the start of Summer, in which the most shallow lakes will have evaporated.
Titan's circumference 10,052mi/16,177km. Assuming the all lakes in picrel are deep enough to not have evaporated, the closest lake to Selk crater is roughly 3,000mi/4,800km away.
Dragonfly is planned to make one "hop" per Titan day (16 Earth days). A hop is expected to be at least 10 miles. Lets be generous and say 30mi per hop. This equates to 100 hops, or 1600 days (4.38 Earth years). Conceivably a mission extension could spend 4-5 years flying nonstop without breaks to the nearest lake. Unfortunately, we have no way to know where the nearest lakes will actually be, as by then (2042) the northern hemisphere will be deep into Summer, and all of the lakes closest to the equator mapped by Cassini will be gone. There won't be an orbiter on this mission to tell us where they are either. It's unlikely that a mission extension will be approved to search for the closest lakes.

Dragonfly will be landing in Shangril-la dunes, and will fly north to Selk crater, just north of Titan's equator.
It's scheduled to land in 2034, when Titan would be transitioning from Winter to Spring in the northern hemisphere, meaning the lakes will begin to evaporate as it warms. The primary mission goals for the initial 3 years of operation will hang around Selk crater exclusively. By the end of those 3 years, the northern hemisphere will be well into Spring, near the start of Summer, in which the most shallow lakes will have evaporated.
Titan's circumference 10,052mi/16,177km. Assuming the all lakes in picrel are deep enough to not have evaporated, the closest lake to Selk crater is roughly 3,000mi/4,800km away.
Dragonfly is planned to make one "hop" per Titan day (16 Earth days). A hop is expected to be at least 10 miles. Lets be generous and say 30mi per hop. This equates to 100 hops, or 1600 days (4.38 Earth years). Conceivably a mission extension could spend 4-5 years flying nonstop without breaks to the nearest lake. Unfortunately, we have no way to know where the nearest lakes will actually be, as by then (2042) the northern hemisphere will be deep into Summer, and all of the lakes closest to the equator mapped by Cassini will be gone. There won't be an orbiter on this mission to tell us where they are either. It's unlikely that a mission extension will be approved to search for the closest lakes.