NASA to launch a new mission to explore Titan, Saturn's largest moon, using a drone lander called "Dragonfly".
a. Dragonfly
b. Pathfinder
c. Space Ranger
d. Galaxy X
Details:
- The crewless craft with four propellers is slated to launch in 2026 and reach its destination in 2034.
- The nuclear-powered Dragonfly is expected to spend two years flying vast distances across Titan's surface and touching down at different sites of interest.
- It will visit the icy moon's dunes and the floor of a crater to search for signs of past or present microbial life.
- Its instruments will also investigate the atmosphere and an underground ocean.
- The similarity to our own planet means Saturn's moon could potentially hold clues for researchers about the origins of life.
About Titan:
- Based on images collected by a previous mission, Titan has a rocky, rugged landscape, with lakes made of methane and ethane.
- It also has an ocean below its crust.
- It is the only place, besides Earth, known to have liquid rivers, lakes and seas.
- Of the more than 150 known moons in the solar system, Titan is the second-largest, and the only one with a thick, hazy atmosphere.
- Like Earth, its atmosphere is nitrogen-based. But unlike Earth, Titan has clouds and rain of methane.
One must know:
- The European Space Agency's Cassini-Huygens probe became the first spacecraft to land on Titan in 2005.
- That mission measured the temperature, pressure and density of the atmosphere and took pictures of the moon's surface.
Question:
Q. What is the name of the drone lander that will be launched by NASA in a new mission to explore Titan, Saturn's largest moon?a. Dragonfly
b. Pathfinder
c. Space Ranger
d. Galaxy X
