NASA's Search for Life: SpaceX to Launch Dragonfly Mission to Saturn's Moon
NASA has announced a $256.6 million contract with SpaceX to support the launch of the Dragonfly mission. Dragonfly is a nuclear-powered spacecraft about the size of a Mars Rover that is capable of flight like a drone. It will be sent to Saturn's moon Titan to characterize the habitability of Titan's environment, investigate the progression of prebiotic chemistry on the moon, and search for chemical indications of whether water-based or hydrocarbon-based life ever existed on the Titan. The mission is expected to launch in July 2028 on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.