DRAGONFLY ROTOR CRAFT MISSION

Why in news?

Recently, NASA has confirmed the Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn’s moon, Titan.

ABOUT

Dragonfly is a dual quadcopter, resembling a car-sized rotorcraft that can cover tens of kilometres on Titan in under an hour.

Due to Titan’s hazy atmosphere, Dragonfly will use a radioisotope power system, similar to the Curiosity rover on Mars.

Dragonfly will fly to dozens of promising locations on Titan looking for prebiotic chemical processes common on both Titan and Earth.

This will be the first time NASA will fly a multi-rotor vehicle for science on other planets.

The craft will land first at the equatorial “Shangri-La” dune, exploring the region in short trips before building up to longer “leapfrog” flights of 8 kilometres.

SIGNIFICANCE

Boost for exploring other planets in the solar system

Exploring viable mineral resources in other planets.