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At first glance, the new NASA probe looks amazing. Known as Dragonfly, it is a quadrocopter with a double rotor (technically an octocopter, even more technically an octocopter X8); it's about the size of a compact car; it's completely autonomous; it is nuclear; and he will hover above the surface of Titan, the moon of Saturn.
But Elizabeth Turtle, senior mission scientist at the Johns Hopkins Laboratory of Applied Physics, insists that it is actually a rather docile space probe.
"There are not a lot of new technologies," she says.
Quadcopters (even the X8 octocopters) are on sale on Amazon these days. Autonomous driving technology is advancing rapidly. Nuclear power is harder to find, but the team plans to use the same type of system that runs NASA's Curiosity robot on Mars. Everything that enters Dragonfly is already used elsewhere.
Which does not mean that the idea of a nuclear powered drone flying around a Saturn moon does not seem crazy enough.
"Almost everyone who is exposed to Dragonfly has a similar thought process.The first time you see it, you say," You're kidding, it's crazy, "" said Doug Adams, ship systems engineer. space. But, he says, "finally, you realize that it is a highly executable mission".
NASA came to this conclusion when, after much in-depth research, it gave Dragonfly the green light earlier this summer. "This revolutionary mission would have been unthinkable just a few years ago," said Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator, when selecting the $ 1 billion project in June. "A great nation does great things."
For Shannon MacKenzie, mission postdoctoral fellow, no destination could be bigger than Titan. The largest moon of Saturn, it has dunes, mountains, ravines and even rivers and lakes – although on Titan, it is so cold that the lakes are filled with liquid methane, not water.
"It's that complete package," she says. "It is this truly unique place in the solar system where all these processes come together in a way very similar to that of the Earth."
Turtle says these features are part of what made Titan a target. It also seems that the surface is covered with organic molecules. The climate is probably too harsh for these molecules to turn into life, but Turtle thinks that Titan could provide clues as to how the building blocks of life began on Earth.
"All of these materials are essentially chemistry experiments for us," she says. "What we want to be able to do is collect the results of these experiences to understand the same steps that were followed here on life."
Titan still has a characteristic to note: although its atmosphere, mainly composed of nitrogen, is denser than that of the Earth, its gravity is far inferior. This makes it the perfect place to take off.
"The conditions on Titan make it easier to fly there than on Earth," said Peter Bedini, Dragonfly Project Manager. A drone is actually a much better way to explore such a world than a wheeled rover.
The dragonfly will be launched from Earth in 2026 and will arrive on Titan in 2034. After entering the atmosphere, it will literally fall from the back of the capsule that brought it and will fly to a set sand dunes on the surface. From there, he will perform a series of "jumps" over two years, sampling the soil and returning data and photos.
Adams is confident that Dragonfly will be able to buzz safely on Titan's pitch. As it takes about an hour and a half for a signal to reach Titan from Earth, it will have to fly autonomously. But, he says, there are not many things to face: "If we hit a tree, we win because we found a tree on Titan," he says.
Adams plans to take advantage of many technologies from the recent drone revolution on Earth. Radars, engines and software can all be used, or relatively easily adapted, for Dragonfly.
He can not bring one thing, however: "We do not have a map, there is no GPS, there is no magnetic field, not even for s & rsquo; steer, "he says. He says that the drone will navigate continuously photographing the landscape, creating its own "map" as and when.
For now, the Dragonfly team is still working with drones here on Earth to determine how to build systems and software that the probe will eventually need. But Turtle says they have time before the launch of 2026. "There is a lot to be done from here," says Turtle. But she adds that all of this is feasible.
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