TWiS 198: A Dragonfly on Titan - Inside the Dragonfly Mission

About this episode

The episode discusses the Dragonfly mission to Titan, featuring an interview with Dr. Elizabeth Turtle about its objectives and significance.

One of the most exciting missions to ever journey to the outer solar system has the be the Dragonfly multi-rotor helicopter that will head to Saturn's moon Titan in 2028. The car-sized probe will arrive at that strange, frozen world in 2034, descending into the soupy, smoggy atmosphere and then taking flight before it even touches the ground! We spoke with the mission's Principal Investigator, Dr. Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle, about the mission's origins, current progress, and what to expect in the coming years. She also took us through a narrated tour of the surface of Titan, with its hydrocarbon sand dunes and methane seas. The Dragonfly mission will be an adventure of a lifetime! Headlines: NASA's Artemis II Moon Rocket Aces New Fueling Test Boeing Starliner is Rated a "Type A" Mishap and Faces More Launch Delays Perseverance Rover Gets Instant Mars GPS-like Functionality Main Topic: NASA's Dragonfly Mission to Titan Dr. Elizabeth Turtle explains Dragonfly's origins and mission concept Why Titan is unique and somewhat akin to the primordial Earth, perfect for exploring prebiotic chemistry Dragonfly's advanced science suite and autonomous flying capability Insights from the…

People in this episode

Guest: Dr. Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle

Topics covered

• Dragonfly Mission
• Titan
• NASA
• space exploration
• prebiotic chemistry
• autonomous flying
• Cassini/Huygens missions

Keywords

• Dragonfly
• Titan
• NASA
• space mission
• prebiotic chemistry
• autonomous helicopter
• Cassini
• Huygens
• methane cycle
• atmosphere

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NASA, Boeing

Places: Titan, Saturn

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