Selected
Fourth mission in NASA’s New Frontiers program.
LUME MISSION OBSERVATORY · 01
Dragonfly
NASA’s Dragonfly mission will fly across Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, landing in different places to study its chemistry and landscape. Follow the mission’s progress, from assembly and testing to its planned exploration of Titan.
Explore the missionOriginal LUME Gravity artistic visualisation of a possible flight above Titan’s dunes · Not an agency image or a recorded event
CURRENT PHASESpacecraft integrationNASA CHECK · 27 SEP 2026LATEST NASA UPDATE
23 Oct · First complete simulated flight succeeds on flight-like avionics.
NASA reportLaunchNET July 2028
ArrivalLate 2034
Primary mission3.3 years
Flight cadenceEvery 1–2 Tsols
02:42LUME GRAVITY · ORIGINAL FILM
The journey
to Titan.
An original visual journey following Dragonfly from launch to its planned arrival at Saturn’s largest moon.
Watch the film Spanish narration · English on-screen text · Artistic reconstructionNASA · DRAGONFLY · 2019—2026
The mission log.
A selective record of Dragonfly's milestones since NASA chose the mission in 2019. The newest update also appears in the green status above.
- 01
First complete real-time simulation of Dragonfly's autonomous first flight and landing succeeds on flight-like avionics.
NASA report - 02
Flight electrical harness installed; Ahmakiq Undae named in Titan's landing region.
NASA report - 03
Fuselage delivered after structural tests; systems integration begins.
NASA report - 04
Heat shield material completes thermal and structural tests.
NASA report - 05
Rotorcraft integration and testing formally begins at Johns Hopkins APL.
NASA report - 06
NASA reports major progress on rotors, insulation, instruments and flight systems.
NASA report - 07
Dragonfly passes its Critical Design Review; construction can advance.
NASA report - 08
NASA formally confirms the mission and its July 2028 launch plan.
NASA report - 09
The team passes the Preliminary Design Review's technical criteria.
NASA report - 10
NASA selects Dragonfly as the fourth New Frontiers mission, bound for Titan.
NASA report
Dates refer to NASA's publication of each report; some events happened earlier. Sources checked 27 Sep 2026 · Curated by LUME Gravity, not a live NASA feed.
THE MISSION IS TAKING SHAPE · NASA / JOHNS HOPKINS APL
Meet the people building Dragonfly.
Dragonfly’s scientists and engineers show how the rotorcraft is being assembled in the clean room.
Eye on Dragonfly · official NASA / Johns Hopkins APL programme · July 2026Watch the original NASA programme
MISSION SPINE
Dragonfly’s path to Titan.
No day-by-day countdown yet. We will start one when NASA confirms a launch date. NASA mission status
Preliminary design
The team passed the Preliminary Design Review's technical criteria.
Confirmed
NASA formally confirmed the mission.
Critical design
NASA approved the mission's detailed design and construction plans.
Integration
The flight structure is becoming a complete spacecraft.
Launch
NASA targets no earlier than July 2028; the launch date is not yet confirmed.
Titan arrival
Entry, descent and the first powered flight.
Science campaign
Flights and landings across multiple sites.
INTERPLANETARY TRANSFER · SCHEMATIC VIEWEARTH → TITAN · ~6 years
Transfer arcPlanetary orbits
Surface operations after arrival: ~115 km from the initial landing site across 20–30 potential sites.
WHY FLIGHT MATTERS
Flying between landing sites.
Titan’s dense atmosphere and low gravity allow Dragonfly to travel between geologically different locations. Each landing can be compared with the last, connecting chemistry, geology and weather across a wider landscape.
Planned traverse~115 km
Potential sites20–30
Original LUME GRAVITY visualisation — editorial interpretation of a Titan landscape.
THE WORLD DRAGONFLY WILL ENTER
A weather cycle, but not ours.
Cassini and Huygens revealed clouds, channels, lakes and seas on Titan. At its surface temperature, the liquids participating in that cycle are methane and ethane, not water.
Methane clouds and rainfall are part of an active atmospheric cycle.
Channels feed polar lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons.
Vast equatorial dunes hold organic grains shaped by wind.
SCIENCE ON BOARD
Five instruments. One connected investigation.
Dragonfly will examine chemistry, elemental composition, landforms, weather, geophysics and samples collected from Titan’s surface.
DraMS
Mass spectrometry for chemical components and biologically relevant compounds.
DraGNS
Gamma-ray and neutron measurements of surface elements.
DragonCam
Surface and aerial views across multiple scales.
DrACO
Drills and transfers surface material to DraMS.
DraGMet
Meteorology, regolith properties and seismic activity.
QUESTIONS WE WILL FOLLOW
What Dragonfly will investigate.
Habitability
What conditions can Titan provide for complex chemistry?
Prebiotic chemistry
How far have chemical pathways associated with life’s origins progressed?
Surface exchange
How do atmosphere, dunes, impact deposits and subsurface materials interact?
A changing world
What can repeated measurements reveal about Titan’s weather and active processes?
GET TO KNOW THE MISSION
Curious about Dragonfly?
What is NASA’s Dragonfly mission?
Dragonfly is a robotic rotorcraft designed to explore Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. It will fly between landing sites and use its instruments to study the surface and atmosphere.
Why send Dragonfly to Titan?
Titan has a thick atmosphere, dunes and lakes of liquid methane and ethane. Its rich organic chemistry offers a place to investigate the chemical processes associated with the origins of life.
How will Dragonfly fly on Titan?
Titan’s dense atmosphere and low gravity make flight easier than on Earth. Dragonfly will use eight rotors to travel between sites, exploring terrain that could be difficult for a wheeled rover to cross.
What will Dragonfly investigate?
It will analyse surface samples, examine landforms and measure weather and other environmental conditions. Comparing different sites will help scientists understand Titan’s chemistry and whether it offers conditions suitable for life.
Explore NASA’s explanations of Dragonfly’s science and how it will fly on Titan.
A LIVING RECORD
This observatory will grow with Dragonfly.
Follow the mission through construction, launch, its journey to Titan and surface exploration.
Build log
Verified engineering milestones and clear explanations of the spacecraft.
Launch desk
Confirmed dates, mission events and links to official broadcasts.
Journey record
Trajectory milestones and the science of reaching Saturn’s system.
Flight log
Landing sites, measurements and results, separated from interpretation.
Official records
NASA Dragonfly missionNASA spacecraft & instrumentsNASA Dragonfly news