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<\/p>\n![\"Titan](\"https:\/\/thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com\/GbpoITW_g6_QTFjgUaJsotAYPwo=\/800x600\/filters:no_upscale()\/https:\/\/public-media.si-cdn.com\/filer\/47\/b2\/47b288da-d64b-4241-b109-7f2bd62cef76\/gallery-1504565072-pia14922-1_1.jpg\")
<\/span>Nobody knows exactly what the sand is made of on Titan. Saturn\u2019s largest moon, a bit larger than the planet Mercury, has a layer of crust primarily formed of water ice, frozen rigid as rock in the minus-180-degree-Celsius environment and, in some places, thrust up to mountain peaks reaching higher than 10,000 feet.<\/p>\n
While sand on Earth is primarily ground-up bedrock of silica, the sand on Titan doesn\u2019t come from the icy bedrock, at least not entirely. The surface is dusted rather in organic compounds\u2014molecules that include carbon as well as elements like hydrogen and nitrogen. The Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017<\/a>, making 126 close flybys of Titan, was able to spot organics on the surface but could not determine exactly what compounds were present. Scientists believe these materials, when exposed to water and energy, can spark the reactions that generate living, reproducing cells.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know Titan has all of these ingredients necessary for life as we know it,\u201d says Elizabeth “Zibi” Turtle, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University\u2019s Applied Physics Lab (APL). \u201cSo we have the opportunity to evaluate the steps and processes that have allowed molecules and materials to develop along the pathway that eventually took chemistry to biology on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n To solve the mystery of Titan\u2019s sand, and perhaps the greater enigma of life\u2019s beginnings, NASA recently approved a $1 billion mission to the hazy orange moon. The space agency, in partnership with APL, plans to send a spacecraft that resembles a giant quadcopter drone with double rotors to fly through the thick atmosphere of Titan. The rotorcraft, called Dragonfly<\/a>, will study several regions where exotic chemistry could produce the constitute components of life.<\/p>\n Titan is the only known world with a \u201chydrological\u201d cycle similar to Earth\u2014rain and evaporation, flowing rivers and standing lakes\u2014although the surface liquid on frigid Titan is comprised of hydrocarbons, primarily methane and ethane, similar to gasoline. Underneath these hydrocarbon seas, and the crust of water ice and exotic minerals, Titan harbors a global ocean of liquid water.<\/p>\n \u201cTitan is the only place where we can really look at this chemistry in the context of a planetary environment, a very Earth-like planetary environment. The materials are different, but the processes are very similar to what we have on Earth,\u201d says Turtle, principal investigator of the Dragonfly mission. \u201cHow far has organic synthesis progressed in this environment?\u201d<\/p>\n Dragonfly will survey the sand dunes around its initial landing site of Shangri-La<\/a>, in the same general region where Huygens landed. The Mini Cooper-sized spacecraft will then take off and fly through the skies of Titan to reach new sites in a search for clues to one of science\u2019s greatest mysteries, the formation of life from non-living matter.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n When Dragonfly launches in seven years, it will likely conduct multiple gravity assist maneuvers around Earth and Venus<\/a> to build up velocity before slingshotting out to the Saturnian system. After entering the nitrogen-rich atmosphere of Titan and deploying a parachute, Dragonfly will separate from its heat shield and then release from the chute, firing up its rotors for the first time in Titan\u2019s skies before it even reaches the ground. The rotorcraft will then autonomously survey the sands of Shangri-La for a suitable area to touch down. It won\u2019t be the first vehicle to fly on another planet\u2014that distinction will go to the small Mars Helicopter<\/a> slated to launch with the Mars 2020 rover, if all goes according to plan\u2014but it will be the first time a large spacecraft designed to fly sophisticated science equipment takes to alien skies.<\/p>\n Flying through the atmosphere of another planetary body, hundreds of millions of miles away, comes with some unique challenges. However, because Titan\u2019s atmosphere is about four times the density of Earth\u2019s, and the gravity is only one-seventh as strong, \u201cIt\u2019s much easier to fly at Titan,\u201d Hibbard says.<\/p>\n On Titan, a rotorcraft only needs about 2.4 percent the hover power that would be required on Earth, and the same amount of power can lift about 40 times more mass on Titan than our own planet.<\/p>\n \u201cThis thing will behave like a flying elephant,\u201d Hibbard says. \u201cIt\u2019s going to look like it lumbers a bit through the atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n Although the thick air and low gravity make it a relatively simple feat to fly on Titan from an aeronautical perspective, Dragonfly will need to operate completely on its own while in flight. A signal from Earth traveling at the speed of light takes about 70 to 90 minutes to get to Titan, depending on the locations of Earth and Saturn, and another 70 to 90 minutes for a response from Dragonfly. There will be no joysticking the rotorcraft on Titan.<\/p>\n \u201cWe use optical cameras, the same kind of thing you might take a picture with \u2026 for navigation, and we also use flash LiDAR [Light Detection and Ranging], which allows us to do hazard detection in real time,\u201d says Doug Adams, spacecraft system engineer at APL for Dragonfly.<\/p>\n Once Dragonfly has taken its science measurements at a given site, and charged its battery with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), the craft will conduct scouting flights to determine the next landing site. A flight could total as much as 24 kilometers, flying 8 kilometers to a new site, then 8 kilometers farther to scout ahead, and then 8 kilometers back to land. These longer \u201cleapfrog\u201d flights are expected to last about 30 to 40 minutes, climbing up to roughly 13,000 feet and topping out at about 10 meters per second (22 miles per hour). But the team could also use Dragonfly\u2019s aerial capabilities to \u201chop\u201d to a nearby location\u2014closer to a rocky outcrop or over to an unusual feature. Overall, Dragonfly is expected to fly some 175 kilometers (108 miles) by the end of its 2.7-year primary mission.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll have an estimate of where we are on the ground based on radio navigation, and then we\u2019ll use that to give directions to the lander\u2014we want you to go this far in that direction,\u201d Adams says. \u201cBut we don\u2019t have a map to give it, so the lander has to do all that navigation internally.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Titan](\"https:\/\/thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com\/XQj7J7FP7dJ9LPQdkUAAV_k6Fpg=\/fit-in\/1072x0\/https:\/\/public-media.si-cdn.com\/filer\/a4\/a7\/a4a72393-5062-4636-97b3-6111e47db871\/gallery-1504903731-new-horizons.jpg\")
![\"Dragonfly](\"https:\/\/thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com\/I3aNqvRgnk3bz4B3OoqXJknaWDI=\/fit-in\/1072x0\/https:\/\/public-media.si-cdn.com\/filer\/82\/cf\/82cffc8c-5914-4efe-bb67-c080288b5066\/20190109-1.jpg\")