NASA`s Dragonfly Heading to Saturn`s Moon

The planet Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and it is the second largest planet in the solar system. A study says that it is nine times greater than earth. The outer atmospheric condition of the planet contains 96.3% of molecular hydrogen and 3.25 % of helium. Due to this above reason, NASA has announced to see a new mission for evidence of past or historical present life on Saturn's moon. This mission name is DRAGONFLY mission consists of high technology drone which is named by NASA as rotorcraft which gets power from a nuclear generator and lands approximately near the titan’s equator. From its landing location, it uses its eight rotors to fly to large kilometers across the planet moon and taking pictures and analyzing the condition. This dragonfly will investigate the atmospheric condition over the Saturn planet and analyze the chemical composition which enhances the life living on the planet.

This new dragonfly is the first drone to fly to another planet. It is very similar to flying any aircraft also known as a leapfrog. This enables the rotorcraft to fly at a height of eight kilometers. The main goal or ambition of this drone to reach or travel to the self-impact crater where there is evidence for any presence of liquid water and carbon-rich molecules will help to merge life over Saturn's moon.

The mission for launching drones that is dragonfly to Saturn is on the year 2026 and officially said by NASA. It will take around about eight years to take land on titans land the drone will spend almost 2.5 years around the 3200 miles wide for about 5150 kilometers moon,

Property/Surface valueDiameter 5150 kmAtmospheric composition 95% nitrogen, 5% methane, 0.1% hydrogen Surface gravity 1.32 m/s2Speed of sound 195 m/s Distance from Saturn 1.2 million kmAtmospheric viscosity 6*10-6 pas Rotation period 15.945 daysObliquity 26o Atmospheric pressure 1.47 barAtmospheric density 5.4 kg/m3 Atmospheric temperature 94 k

Table 1: Specifications of titan’s environment

The idea of the Dragonfly mission

The car lands under rotor energy and deploys a high-gain antenna for DTE communication after shipment from space in an aero shell and parachute descent. Powered by a radioisotope power supply that offers a big battery with heat and trickle charges, the car can function almost indefinitely as a standard lender but can also create rotor flights to new places on a regular basis with short battery energy. However, technological development has given arises to the multi-rotor drones made possible by compact sensors and autopilots have the capability to land and compatibilities to automatic landing and site evaluation.

It has many challenges delivering the vehicle into the titan atmosphere is not much easier. The rotorcraft is launched upside down with skids and the forward face of the aero shell launches upward the vehicle.

Energy Is Everywhere & Everything

Using solar power at titan is impossible because it is 1000 hundred times weaker than the earth's surface solar power. Because due to titan's distance from the sun and the hazy outer atmosphere of titan will diminish the solar power to be recur. Like the Huygens probe, the vehicle body has dense insulation around its primary electronics box, and Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) thermal 'waste' is tapped to preserve this interior (and especially the battery) at good temperatures. The titan’s solar day is 384 h long when seen from the sun the earth is always 6o to the sun. Interaction with Earth, and logically any operations requiring real-time observation (such as atmospheric flight), occurs during the day, and nighttime activities are usually minimal and energy can be used to recharge the battery. Logical maximum battery size is therefore that which captures MMRTG energy entirely during the Titan night, or 75* 192= 14 kWh. Such a battery— about a quarter of a Tesla electric car's battery size— would be rather huge (140 kg), assuming a representative particular power measure for 100 Wh / kg space-qualified batteries. In practice, it is possible to choose a smaller battery, sacrificing some energy efficiency for lower mass and cost.

Performance Of Flight At Atmospheric And Aerodynamic Principle

The atmosphere of Titan is both denser and cooler than earth's atmosphere. The composition is predominantly nitrogen (95 percent), and the low temperature means that the molecular viscosity is lower than that of our air. The mixture of greater density and reduced viscosity implies that an airfoil of a specified size and velocity operates at a number of Reynolds greater than on Earth.

Therefore the release of the dragonfly drone from the parachute the vehicle should traverse many kilometers long away by using some attenuators or sensors to identify the safest landing site. Among many other proposals for missions to Venus, Titan, Escalades, comets, and other targets, NASA is currently considering the Dragonfly concept. The writers hope that a Phase A study and eventually a flight will be chosen in late 2017. However, Dragonfly has implemented a revolutionary fresh paradigm in planetary exploration by showing a thorough suggestion for the application of unparalleled regional mobility, regardless of the results of the New Frontiers 4 application. Having outlined this idea, the writers predict that it may be hard to imagine a Titan Lander mission that does not take advantage of this capacity.

Conclusion

However, Dragonfly is a really exciting mission that follows on from the findings of the Cassini mission. Titan is like a primordial Earth, covered in liquid methane lakes. If we were to find life outside of Earth but within our Solar System, places like Titan would be prime candidates,” said Dr Sheila Kanani of the Royal Astronomical Society in London. NASA hopes to launch Dragonfly in 2026. It will arrive at Titan in 2034, and its mission is planned to last for at least 2.7 years.

Bibliography

1. NASA sending a life drone https://www.space.com/nasa-dragonfly-mission-saturn-moon-titan.
2. R. D. Lorenz et al. 374 Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 34, Number 3 (2018), www.jhuapl.edu/techdigest Dragonfly: A Rotorcraft Lander Concept for Scientific Exploration at Titan
3. NASA Announces New Dragonfly Drone Mission to Explore Titan.