--- title: "A Team of Scientists Want to Land a Drone on Saturn’s Largest Moon" description: "Later this year, NASA might decide to fund a Johns Hopkins University mission that would send a drone to Saturn's largest moon Titan." date: "2019-01-19" modified: "2019-01-19" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/saturn-moon-titan-mission-dragonfly" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Drones" - "Moon" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" - "Space" tags: - "drone" - "NASA" - "saturn" - "the digest" - "Titan" --- # A Team of Scientists Want to Land a Drone on Saturn’s Largest Moon ![Later this year, NASA might decide to fund a Johns Hopkins University mission that would send a drone to Saturn's largest moon Titan.]() *\Image: Johns Hopkins APL\* ## A Close-Up View We got our best glimpse of Saturn's largest moon Titan when European Space Agency's Huygen probe was successfully dropped off on its surface by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on January 14, 2005 — the farthest ever landing from Earth of a spacecraft. But the probe ran out of battery power in only a couple of hours. ## Mission Dragonfly A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory have been itching to get back to Saturn's hazy moon. But this time, rather than sending a stationary probe, the team wants to send a drone that could explore the moon from above its surface — but well below its thick, and nitrogen-rich atmosphere. "We didn't know how Titan worked as a system before Cassini got there. We had tantalizing hints, but Cassini and Huygens really took it from \[being\] this mysterious moon to \[being\] a place that is incredibly familiar," principal investigator for Dragonfly and scientist at Johns Hopkins University Elizabeth Turtle [told]() *Space.com*. The mission called [Dragonfly]() could eventually explore the most [promising, and potentially habitable sites]() on Titan. Scientists are planning to take advantage of the moon's low gravity, and thick atmosphere to visit multiple sites with the drone. https://youtu.be/OMtggK10nv0 ## Crossing Fingers And the proposed mission might actually take shape — that is, if NASA chooses it over a different finalist proposal later this year. NASA [chose the two finalist concepts]() including Dragonfly for its next mid-2020s mission back in December 2017. The team behind Dragonfly submitted a more detailed concept back in December of last year, and are expecting a decision from NASA in the summer, *Space.com* reports. If chosen this year, the Dragonfly mission would launch around the year 2025 to arrive at Titan nine long years later. And they're hopeful. "Not only is this an incredibly exciting concept with amazing, compelling science, but also, it is doable — it's feasible from an engineering standpoint," Melissa Trainer, Dragonfly's deputy principal investigator, and scientist at NASA [told]() *Space.com*. **READ MORE:** [NASA May Decide This Year to Land a Drone on Saturn's Moon Titan]() \[*Space.com*\] ***More on Dragonfly: [NASA Is Considering Sending a "Dragonfly" Drone to an Alien World]()*** ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()