1. Science Goals and Objectives for the Dragonfly Titan Rotorcraft Relocatable Lander
- Author
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Simon Stähler, E. R. Stofan, Kevin P. Hand, C. D. Neish, William B. Brinckerhoff, Colin Wilson, Ralph D. Lorenz, Scot Rafkin, R. A. Yingst, Tetsuya Tokano, Kris Zacny, Jani Radebaugh, Christopher P. McKay, Patrick N. Peplowski, Alexander Hayes, Erich Karkoschka, Juan M. Lora, Jorge I. Nunez, Jason W. Barnes, Claire E. Newman, Melissa G. Trainer, Alice Le Gall, A. M. Parsons, Caroline Freissinet, Mark P. Panning, Lynnae C. Quick, David J. Lawrence, Carolyn M. Ernst, Cyril Szopa, Thomas P. Wagner, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Hiroaki Shiraishi, R. S. Miller, Kristin S. Sotzen, Sarah M. Hörst, Shannon MacKenzie, Elizabeth P. Turtle, Morgan L. Cable, Scott L. Murchie, Jason M. Soderblom, Angela Stickle, Department of Physics [Moscow,USA], University of Idaho [Moscow, USA], Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory [Laurel, MD] (APL), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), PLANETO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS), Department of Astronomy [Ithaca], Cornell University [New York], Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences [Baltimore], Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Lunar and Planetary Laboratory [Tucson] (LPL), University of Arizona, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences [New Haven], Yale University [New Haven], NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), Planetary Science Institute [Tucson] (PSI), Department of Earth Sciences [London, ON], University of Western Ontario (UWO), Aeolis Research, Department of Geological Sciences [BYU], Brigham Young University (BYU), Southwest Research Institute [Boulder] (SwRI), Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency [Sagamihara] (JAXA), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences [Cambridge, USA] (EPS), Harvard University [Cambridge], Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Institut für Geophysik und Meteorologie [Köln], Universität zu Köln, NASA Headquarters, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics [Oxford] (AOPP), University of Oxford [Oxford], Honeybee Robotics Ltd, Institute of Geophysics [ETH Zürich], Department of Earth Sciences [Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - ETH Zürich] (D-ERDW), and Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich)- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich)
- Subjects
Aquifer ,01 natural sciences ,Mantle (geology) ,Astrobiology ,Pre-biotic astrochemistry ,03 medical and health sciences ,symbols.namesake ,Extant taxon ,Impact crater ,0103 physical sciences ,Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Planetary surfaces ,14. Life underwater ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,030304 developmental biology ,0303 health sciences ,geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Habitability ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Prebiotic chemistry ,Geophysics ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] ,symbols ,Water ice ,Titan (rocket family) ,Titan ,Planetary atmospheres - Abstract
NASA’s Dragonfly mission will send a rotorcraft lander to the surface of Titan in the mid-2030s. Dragonfly's science themes include investigation of Titan’s prebiotic chemistry, habitability, and potential chemical biosignatures from both water-based “life as we know it” (as might occur in the interior mantle ocean, potential cryovolcanic flows, and/or impact melt deposits) and potential “life, but not as we know it” that might use liquid hydrocarbons as a solvent (within Titan’s lakes, seas, and/or aquifers). Consideration of both of these solvents simultaneously led to our initial landing site in Titan’s equatorial dunes and interdunes to sample organic sediments and water ice, respectively. Ultimately, Dragonfly's traverse target is the 80 km diameter Selk Crater, at 7° N, where we seek previously liquid water that has mixed with surface organics. Our science goals include determining how far prebiotic chemistry has progressed on Titan and what molecules and elements might be available for such chemistry. We will also determine the role of Titan’s tropical deserts in the global methane cycle. We will investigate the processes and processing rates that modify Titan’s surface geology and constrain how and where organics and liquid water can mix on and within Titan. Importantly, we will search for chemical biosignatures indicative of past or extant biological processes. As such, Dragonfly, along with Perseverance, is the first NASA mission to explicitly incorporate the search for signs of life into its mission goals since the Viking landers in 1976.
- Published
- 2021