Atmospheric Science on Titan from the Dragonfly Rotorcraft
Keywords
Meteorology, Planetary Boundary Layer, Titan, Hydrological Cycle
Presenter Abstract
NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft lander is under construction for launch in 2028 to Saturn's moon Titan. The ~900kg vehicle takes advantage of Titan's dense nitrogen atmosphere and low gravity to effect mobility using 8 rotors. The vehicle will make meteorological measurements on the surface, as well as during the ~20 minute flights it will make every Titan day or two (thus, once or twice per month). Flights will reach several hundred meters altitude, profiling most or all of the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL), depending on the time of day. Additionally, measurements are made at Titan arrival, where the vehicle descends by parachute before transitioning to powered flight for the lowest 1km or so.
Measurements to be made by the Dragonfly Geophysics and Meteorology package (DraGMet) include pressure, temperature, wind, light levels, methane and hydrogen abundance, sound and wind. On Titan, methane (present at ~5% near the surface) is a condensible greenhouse gas and thus plays the role that water does on Earth, forming clouds and seas. Titan is thus of great interest in a comparative planetological sense, informing processes that affect us directly on Earth but with very different conditions (94K, 1.47 bar) and working materials.
This presentation will review Dragonfly's scientific mission, the hardware development and testing, and the exploration plans.
Presentations
Presented in Session 2: Platform Development II
Atmospheric Science on Titan from the Dragonfly Rotorcraft
NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft lander is under construction for launch in 2028 to Saturn's moon Titan. The ~900kg vehicle takes advantage of Titan's dense nitrogen atmosphere and low gravity to effect mobility using 8 rotors. The vehicle will make meteorological measurements on the surface, as well as during the ~20 minute flights it will make every Titan day or two (thus, once or twice per month). Flights will reach several hundred meters altitude, profiling most or all of the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL), depending on the time of day. Additionally, measurements are made at Titan arrival, where the vehicle descends by parachute before transitioning to powered flight for the lowest 1km or so.
Measurements to be made by the Dragonfly Geophysics and Meteorology package (DraGMet) include pressure, temperature, wind, light levels, methane and hydrogen abundance, sound and wind. On Titan, methane (present at ~5% near the surface) is a condensible greenhouse gas and thus plays the role that water does on Earth, forming clouds and seas. Titan is thus of great interest in a comparative planetological sense, informing processes that affect us directly on Earth but with very different conditions (94K, 1.47 bar) and working materials.
This presentation will review Dragonfly's scientific mission, the hardware development and testing, and the exploration plans.
Presenter Biography (Optional)
Ralph Lorenz is a planetary scientist at APL, specializing in the interaction of vehicles and instruments with planetary surfaces and atmospheres, including ocean waves, sand dunes, dust devils and atmospheric electricity. He has been associated with NASA's InSight and Perseverance missions at Mars, the Japanese Venus climate orbiter Akatsuki and the DAVINCI Venus probe Discovery mission presently in development. He worked for the European Space Agency as an engineer on the design of the Huygens probe to Titan, and is the Mission Architect and Geophysics/Meteorology Lead for the Dragonfly New Frontiers mission. He has over 300 refereed journal publications and has authored ten books. These include "Titan Unveiled", "Spinning Flight", "Exploring Planetary Climate". His article 'Engineers are Dogs:Scientists are Cats' ruminates on the differences between these technical disciplines.