The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, is currently working on a mission called Dragonfly. Elizabeth Turtle serves as the principal investigator for this project, which is being managed by APL for NASA. The team behind Dragonfly includes key partners from several institutions, including NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Lockheed Martin Space, NASA’s Ames Research Center, NASA’s Langley Research Center, Penn State University, Malin Space Science Systems, Honeybee Robotics, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CNES, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and JAXA.
Dragonfly is the fourth mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program and is being managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Its primary goal is to explore and study various aspects of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. The mission will utilize a unique approach to scientific research by deploying a small spacecraft that will land on Titan’s surface and then use its powerful propellers to take flight and gather data from different locations on the moon.