NASA's Dragonfly Mission Heat Shield Completes Critical Thermal-Structural Testing for Titan Journey

Summary

NASA's Dragonfly mission, which will explore Saturn's largest moon Titan, has successfully completed thermal-structural testing of its heat shield at Sandia National Laboratories' National Solar Thermal Test Facility in New Mexico. The heat shield was subjected to extreme temperatures simulating the intense heat it will encounter during atmospheric entry at Titan. The testing involved collaboration between NASA's Ames Research Center, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Lockheed Martin, and Sandia National Laboratories. Dragonfly is a rotorcraft lander designed to fly through Titan's thick atmosphere and study its surface composition, atmosphere, and potential for prebiotic chemistry.

Source

bskyNASA's Dragonfly Mission Heat Shield Completes Critical Thermal-Structural Testing for Titan Journeyscience.nasa.gov