SpaceX will take NASA’s Dragonfly helicopter to Titan, Saturn’s moon

JAKARTA – The US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has finally selected a launch service provider for the Dragonfly mission. SpaceX is the space company chosen to carry out this mission.

Dragonfly is a helicopter designed to explore Titan, a moon of the planet Saturn. The Dragonfly launch mission is under NASA’s New Frontiers Program and is scheduled to fly in mid-2028.

“Dragonfly is the fourth mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed by the NASA Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington,” NASA said in its latest report.

NASA has awarded SpaceX a contract worth 256.6 million US dollars (Rp. 4,082 trillion).

Dragonfly’s mission management contract covers launch services, mission costs, and the use of a Falcon Heavy rocket to deliver the helicopter into space.

The launch period will be open from July 5 to July 25, 2028. The plan is for Dragonfly to take off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s flight facility in Florida.

When Dragonfly lands on Titan, this unmanned aircraft will explore different areas, similar to the Perseverance spacecraft on Mars. It’s just that Perseverance doesn’t fly like a Dragonfly.

While exploring Titan, Dragonfly will collect samples and identify environmental potential using scientific payloads from partners around the world. Dragonfly will also study the development of prebiotic chemistry on the Moon.

“Carbon-rich material and liquid water may have been mixed for a long time (on Titan),” NASA said. “(Dragonfly will also) look for chemical indicators of whether life was based on water or There was once water on Saturn’s moons.”