Illustration of NASA's "Dragonfly" rover for the upcoming 2026 Titan exploration. (Image via: Science News)

2026 NASA's Dragonfly to Fly to Titan for Life Origin

Don’t get tricked by the title. It is not where "Thanos" was born. In 2026, NASA aimed to explore the origin of life on Saturn’s moon, Titan, in a project called “Dragonfly”. On Thursday (27/6), NASA stated that the plan was to launch the multi-rotor rover in 2026 and have it landed on the surface of the natural satellite by 2034.

NASA has calculated that by the time the rover arrives in 2034, the weather should be clear and agreeable for the exploration.

Then, the rover will study the satellite for 2.7 years in order to determine the origin of life, if there is any, and how & why it went extinct. The rover will be endowed with flight ability and powered by 8 motors. Hence, the name “Dragonfly” was derived from the characteristics of the rover.

On Titan, the rover would examine complex organic material and liquid, crater, atmosphere, surface, and reservoir. Everything needed to be analyzed in order to determine the past life on the moon.

The plan is a fruit from “The New Frontier” competition by NASA, a competition to propose a mission that costs less than US$1 billion. The competition took approximately 2.5 years to complete. Titan was selected since the natural satellite has the same atmosphere properties as those of pre-historic Earth, dated back to 4 billion years ago.

Hence, NASA hopes that by revealing the mystery of Titan, they could unlock the secret of the secretive life before time.

Source: https://thenextweb.com/space/2019/06/28/nasa-titan-dragonfly-space-life-2026/