NASA has approved a project to deliver soil samples from Titan

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BaronVerde
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Re: NASA has approved a project to deliver soil samples from Titan

Post by BaronVerde » Fri, 9. Apr 21, 13:36

So, I had some time and did a search. Apparently I confused the launch dates for the Dragonfly mission. The preliminary launch calculations are actually openly accessible, I love it :-)

From Earth launch to Titan atmoshperic entry:
https://trs.jpl.nasa.gov/handle/2014/48626?show=full

Launch shall be 2027, arrival 2036 (was shifted from 2026/2034). Page 4 shows the possible masses of a spacecraft for a certain launcher (a mid-range) and time frame (travel time limited to <=12 years), with multiple gravity assists from Earth and Venus. For the 2026 launch it is a Venus-Earth-Earth assist. A sample trajectory for the previously planned 2025 launch, which followed an Earth-Venus-Earth-Earth path is depicted on page 7.

Btw., if someone wants to plan their own journey, there are mutliple launch window and trajectory calculators on the internet. Though they may be simplifying, they give a pretty good impression.


I doubt they can handle launching multiple vehicles in the time and monetary constraints given. If they manage the add-on sample return with picking up fuel on Titan and return to Earth without missing it that'll be really cool. I hope they manage to build it in the 5 years until launch, but even if they do I doubt we'd have something material back from Titan before the 2040s. Still, Dragonfly may collect and transmit some nice data from up there.

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