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Solar System Exploration Division
In Development

Dragonfly

Dragonfly is a rotorcraft lander mission proposed to the New Frontiers Program that is designed to take advantage of Titan's environment to be able to sample materials and determine the surface composition in different geologic settings. This revolutionary mission concept would provide the capability to explore diverse locations to characterize the habitability of Titan's environment, to investigate how far prebiotic chemistry has progressed, and even to search for chemical signatures that could be indicative of water-based and/or hydrocarbon-based life.

Launch Date

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Class

Flight Project

Website

Key Staffs

Dragonfly is a rotorcraft lander mission proposed to the New Frontiers Program that is designed to take advantage of Titan's environment to be able to sample materials and determine the surface composition in different geologic settings. This revolutionary mission concept would provide the capability to explore diverse locations to characterize the habitability of Titan's environment, to investigate how far prebiotic chemistry has progressed, and even to search for chemical signatures that could be indicative of water-based and/or hydrocarbon-based life.

Related Publications

2025. "New Analytical Methodology to Reveal Biosignatures on Mars and Ocean Worlds.", Analytical Chemistry, 97 (42): 23050-23061 [10.1021/acs.analchem.5c01634] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Selection of Chemical Adsorbents and Operating Conditions for the Injection Traps of the Gas Chromatograph on Board the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer.", ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 10 (1): 235-249 [10.1021/acsearthspacechem.5c00325] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Unveiling the Nitrogen Chemistry of Titan with the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer: Experimental Focus on Amines and Amides.", ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 8 (9): 1832-1846 [10.1021/acsearthspacechem.4c00143] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Science Goals and Objectives for the Dragonfly Titan Rotorcraft Relocatable Lander.", The Planetary Science Journal, 2 (4): 130 [10.3847/psj/abfdcf] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Evaluation of the Interference of Tenax®TA Adsorbent with Dimethylformamide Dimethyl Acetal Reagent for Gas Chromatography-Dragonfly Mass Spectrometry and Future Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in situ Analysis.", Journal of Chromatography A, 464388 [10.1016/j.chroma.2023.464388] [Journal Article/Letter]