NASA has selected two finalist concepts for a robotic mission planned to launch in the mid-2020s: a comet sample return mission and a drone-like rotorcraft that would explore potential landing sites on Saturn’s hazy moon Titan.
Dragonfly is a dual-quadcopter lander that would take advantage of the environment on Saturn’s hazy moon Titan to fly to multiple locations, some hundreds of miles apart, to sample materials and determine surface composition to investigate Titan’s organic chemistry and habitability, monitor atmospheric and surface conditions, image landforms to investigate geological processes, and perform seismic studies. Image credit: NASA.
“This is a giant leap forward in developing our next bold mission of science discovery,” said Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
“These are tantalizing investigations that seek to answer some of the biggest questions in our Solar System today.”
The two finalist concepts are:
(i) Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return (CAESAR):
The CAESAR mission seeks to return a sample from 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a comet that was successfully explored by ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft, to determine its origin and history.
(ii) Dragonfly:
Dragonfly is a drone-like rotorcraft that would explore the prebiotic chemistry and habitability of dozens of sites on Saturn’s moon Titan, an ocean world in the Solar System.
The CAESAR and Dragonfly missions will receive funding through the end of 2018 to further develop and mature their concepts.
NASA plans to select one of these investigations in the spring of 2019 to continue on to subsequent mission phases.
The selected mission will be the fourth in NASA’s New Frontiers portfolio. Current New Frontiers missions are New Horizons to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, Juno at Jupiter, and the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, now heading to the asteroid Bennu for arrival in 2018.
The CAESAR mission will acquire a sample from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, returning it safely to Earth. Comets are made up of materials from ancient stars, interstellar clouds, and the birth of our Solar System. The CAESAR sample will reveal how these materials contributed to the early Earth, including the origins of the Earth’s oceans, and of life. Image credit: NASA.
NASA also announced the selection of two mission concepts that will receive technology development funds to prepare them for future mission competitions.
The concepts selected for technology development are:
(i) Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability (ELSAH):
The ELSAH mission concept will receive funds to develop cost-effective techniques that limit spacecraft contamination and thereby enable life detection measurements on cost-capped missions.
(ii) Venus In situ Composition Investigations (VICI):
The VICI mission concept will further develop the Venus Element and Mineralogy Camera to operate under the harsh conditions on Venus. The instrument uses lasers on a lander to measure the mineralogy and elemental composition of rocks on the surface of Venus.
