NASA plans to send a helicopter called Dragonfly to Titan

 NASA plans to send a helicopter called Dragonfly. This time to Titan

Dragonfly spacecraft

            Dragonfly is a robotic helicopter which will be sent to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. It will be the first aircraft on a moon and is fully automated. 

            It has the capability to vertically take off and land between exploration sites. Unlike the Ingenuity UAV, the spacecraft can fly for long distances as it is powered by lithium-ion batteries which are rechargeable by a thermoelectric generator.

Why Titan?

            Dragonfly is set to go to Titan. The reason being Titan is so similar compared to earth. It is an ocean World and the only moon with a dense atmosphere.

            It has events similar to the earth such as clouds, rain, lakes, and seas. There is also a large number of organic material found on the moon's surface.

            There may be extraterrestrial activities on Titan. This is due to the fact that certain Chemicals were found in Titan.

            These chemical interactions are the same that occurred on earth before the formation of life. So Titan gains much attention from all the planetary scientists in terms of alien life.

What will it carry?

             The whole spacecraft will be about 450 kgs. It also has a 12 feet diameter heatshield to land on Titan. There are about five scientific payloads in the spacecraft. This consists of

1. A mass spectrometer used to identify biological chemical components
2. A neutron spectrometer used to identify the surface composition under the Lander
3. A large number of Meteorological sensors and a seismometer
4. The Dragonfly camera is used to take microscopic and panoramic images. This will help scientists to look for landing sites.
5. It was also use monitoring instruments to find out the characteristics of Titans atmosphere
6. It also has a drill similar to the curiosity rover

When will dragonfly launch?

Dragonfly landing in Titan

            The Dragonfly spacecraft is about the size of an average-sized car. It will be launched on top of an Atlas V rocket.

            It will be launched in 2027 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The duration of this mission is about 12 months.

Challenges to be faced

            Before talking about the challenges I wanted to say some of the good things titan's atmosphere has, For Example:

            Unlike mars, Titan's atmosphere is thicker and has a gravity of about 1/7th that of Earth. So the rotors in the spacecraft produce more thrust compared to earth. That's a major advantage. 

            Now to the challenges faced by the spacecraft :

    1. Energy

             Titan is very far from the Sun. At this distance the sunlight is a hundred times weaker than Earth. So we don't have a chance of using solar panels.

            But thankfully we have thermoelectric generators.They are not nuclear reactors.They work on a principle called seeback effect.Plutonium 238,Strontium90 are some of the radioactive materials used to produce energy

    2.Power generation

            This spacecraft takes about 8 months to reach Titan. During this time the radioactive materials present inside the spacecraft may cause increased heat. This heat must be sent out.

            So in order to do this radiators are placed to dissipate the heat. Also in titan temperature in the night creatures about -180 degrees C.

            A considerable amount of power spent on heating the spacecraft and keeping the scientific instruments warm. After all these losses, there are only 75 Watts of power left. It has 14-kilowatt-hour battery.

            A Tesla car has about 75 kilowatt-hour battery.

    3.Communication

            Titan is very far from Earth. So sending information to and from Titan is almost impossible. So in order to compensate this dragonfly spacecraft has a high gain antenna used to relay information.

            This signal takes about two and half hours to reach earth. This spacecraft is entirely dependent upon self-driving.

Travel route

Dragonfly hop

            The spacecraft will land on the sand dunes of the equatorial region. Then it will make its journey towards Selk Crater. 

            It is because Selk Crater is expected to have chemical components which are building blocks of life.

Conclusion

            If this mission succeeds, we will get to know much about Titan. Furthermore, it may lead to a scientific breakthrough in the field of astrobiology.

            Tell us what you think about this mission in the comments