Dragonfly Animation Resource Page

  • Released Tuesday, February 25, 2020
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Dragonfly on Titan

Dragonfly is a NASA mission to explore the chemistry and habitability of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. The fourth mission in the New Frontiers line, Dragonfly will send an autonomously-operated rotorcraft to visit dozens of sites on Titan, investigating the moon’s surface and shallow subsurface for organic molecules and possible biosignatures.

To carry out its mission, Dragonfly is equipped with a neutron spectrometer, a drill system, and a mass spectrometer, allowing scientists to make a detailed survey of Titan’s chemical makeup. Dragonfly is scheduled to launch in 2026 and arrive at Titan in 2034.

The animations on this page were produced to illustrate a science overview video for Dragonfly.

PNG pulses, GRS detects radiation

Subsurface composition found by PNG and GRS

DRACO deploys and generates tailings

Dragonfly's blowers begin to flow air through transfer lines and tailings are ingested

Samples are collected into Dragonfly's chambers

Laser desorption

Sample cup is transferred to oven and heated, releasing molecules into the gas chromatograph (not depicted)

Gamma graph of organic molecule detection

Mass spectrum of Oleic acid, a biosignature and molecule of interest

Chiral analysis graph

For More Information

See NASA.gov

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

This page was originally published on Tuesday, February 25, 2020.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:45 PM EDT.

Missions

This page is related to the following missions: