Surely this is one of the coolest science missions planned for the reasonably near future. (Manned flights are focused on engineering.) The idea is that rovers can't really go that far given terrain and other issues. So, NASA is going to fly a 1000 lb, 8 bladed nuclear powered drone to Jupiter's largest moon so it can fly around looking at a far wider area than a land based vehicle could possibly accomplish! The Dragonfly drone is flying upper left. The lower vehicle may be another drone view or it may be the rover that will make the trip, too. (Artistic license on terrain, obviously.)
It's funny that they only expected the rovers to last about a month since their batteries couldn't recharge as the solar panels would be covered with dust. It turns out that little dust Devils would blow over them and remove all the dust.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/dragonfly-launch-moved-to-2027 Delayed until 2027, but exciting nevertheless!
The dorky kids finally grew up. You know... the kids up front of class that got spit-balls shot at them. Revenge!
I'm all for science, but why bother with Titan? Isn't it -200 degrees with lakes of liquid methane? Not exactly conducive to life...
NASA lost its Opportunity rover to dust. Significant storms could remove dust, but those storms would have to be timed such that the rover would have power during Martian winter. Apparantly that didn't happen. So, Opportunity is considered to have been permanently damaged - as in dead. The mission with Dragonfly is headed too far from the sun for solar pannels to be sufficient. So, it and the associated rover on that mission will be nuclear powered.
Well, not conducive to life as we know it. Of the 150 or so moons in our solar system, Titan is the only one with a serious atmosphere. Yes, it's cold on the surface, but has lakes, rivers, etc. of hydrocarbons. From NASA: Is that enouh to justiy a visit? I can't answer that! But, I think learning more about our solar system is a legitimate goal that goes beyond the search for life.
Obviously but life isn't the only reason to engage in extending knowledge. My problem with it is that we will borrow or print money to do it. We need to stop doing that.