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NASA officially greenlights $3.35B mission to Saturn's moon Titan

36 points by LinuxBender 2y ago

ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Official post: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/dragonfly/nasas-dragonfly-rotorcraft-mission-to-saturns-moon-titan-confirmed/ https://science.nasa.gov/missions/dragonfly/nasas-dragonfly-...
drak0n1c 2y ago
"When NASA chose Dragonfly in 2019, the mission had a cost cap of $850 million ($1 billion when adjusted for inflation) to get it to the launch pad. The budget limit didn't include the launch or costs to operate the Dragonfly spacecraft after launch. The costs originally under the budget cap have increased the $1 billion post-inflation figure to $2.1 billion, according to NASA." Unfortunately, some industries experience much more inflation than others.
- bryanlarsen 2y ago
  That's nothing compared to JWST which increased in cost from $500M to $10B. They've fixed some of the issues that led to that, but not all...
johndevor 2y ago
They should be investing in reusable launch systems.
- nradov 2y ago
  Why?
- dgrin91 2y ago
  But thats totally unrelated? This isn't about a rocket, this is whats on the rocket. Also its basically a helicopter, so it is a reusable system.
  - johndevor 2y ago
    It's also about 3.35B dollars.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
engineer_22 2y ago
Incredibly exciting mission, Titan has a dense nitrogen atmosphere and lakes of hydrocarbons. It's very cold, but it is a very interesting object to visit in terms of size, atmosphere, gravity, and organic chemicals.
Ancalagon 2y ago
Anyone know of any open positions related to the mission? (Software)
windows2020 2y ago
Sorry to bring down the mood, but doesn't this mean that best case, in a decade, we can say there may be life? I feel like I've been hearing that my entire life. Shouldn't we drill into the ocean?
- rthnbgrredf 2y ago
  The ingredients to make the most basic form of life are well known. It will of course be a huge discovery if we can detect life on another object other than earth, maybe the biggest discovery in lifetime, but I think it will be a one time news event without much of a follow up. Much more interesting would be to detect signs of intelligence life in solar systems that we can observe with high resolution.
robertlagrant 2y ago
> NASA's budgetary limitations, and not any mismanagement from within the Dragonfly project, were responsible for a large share of the cost growth Can anyone translate?

36 points by LinuxBender 2y ago

Official post: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/dragonfly/nasas-dragonfly-rotorcraft-mission-to-saturns-moon-titan-confirmed/ https://science.nasa.gov/missions/dragonfly/nasas-dragonfly-...

drak0n1c 2y ago

"When NASA chose Dragonfly in 2019, the mission had a cost cap of $850 million ($1 billion when adjusted for inflation) to get it to the launch pad. The budget limit didn't include the launch or costs to operate the Dragonfly spacecraft after launch. The costs originally under the budget cap have increased the $1 billion post-inflation figure to $2.1 billion, according to NASA." Unfortunately, some industries experience much more inflation than others.

bryanlarsen 2y ago
That's nothing compared to JWST which increased in cost from $500M to $10B. They've fixed some of the issues that led to that, but not all...

johndevor 2y ago

They should be investing in reusable launch systems.

nradov 2y ago
Why?
dgrin91 2y ago
But thats totally unrelated? This isn't about a rocket, this is whats on the rocket. Also its basically a helicopter, so it is a reusable system.
- johndevor 2y ago
  It's also about 3.35B dollars.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

engineer_22 2y ago

Incredibly exciting mission, Titan has a dense nitrogen atmosphere and lakes of hydrocarbons. It's very cold, but it is a very interesting object to visit in terms of size, atmosphere, gravity, and organic chemicals.

Ancalagon 2y ago

Anyone know of any open positions related to the mission? (Software)

windows2020 2y ago

Sorry to bring down the mood, but doesn't this mean that best case, in a decade, we can say there may be life? I feel like I've been hearing that my entire life. Shouldn't we drill into the ocean?

rthnbgrredf 2y ago
The ingredients to make the most basic form of life are well known. It will of course be a huge discovery if we can detect life on another object other than earth, maybe the biggest discovery in lifetime, but I think it will be a one time news event without much of a follow up. Much more interesting would be to detect signs of intelligence life in solar systems that we can observe with high resolution.

robertlagrant 2y ago

> NASA's budgetary limitations, and not any mismanagement from within the Dragonfly project, were responsible for a large share of the cost growth Can anyone translate?