NASA has started building the nuclear-powered Dragonfly rotorcraft designed to explore Saturn’s moon Titan, marking a major milestone ahead of its planned launch in 2028.

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• NASA technicians at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland have begun assembling and testing the Dragonfly rotorcraft, a groundbreaking mission aimed at exploring Titan’s atmosphere and surface.

• Dragonfly will be a car-sized nuclear-powered drone designed to fly across different locations on Titan, studying its chemistry, geology, and atmospheric conditions in unprecedented detail.

• The mission is scheduled to launch in 2028 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and will travel billions of kilometers to reach Saturn’s largest moon.

• Scientists believe Titan contains organic molecules and chemical ingredients that could help researchers better understand the origins of life in the universe.

• The spacecraft’s Integrated Electronics Module acts as its central brain, managing guidance, navigation, communication, and data systems during the mission.

• Dragonfly builds upon lessons learned from NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity, which successfully operated on Mars for nearly three years despite being designed for only a few flights.

• Testing and integration of spacecraft components will continue until early 2027 before the spacecraft undergoes further system checks and environmental testing.

• After completion of testing, Dragonfly will be transported to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final preparations before its historic launch toward Titan.