EDL Concept of Operations for the Dragonfly Rotorcraft Mission to Titan

Dragonfly, NASA’s fourth New Frontiers mission, will deliver a rotorcraft to Titan for mobility and repeated in-situ science. This paper presents the concept of operations for the entry, descent, lander release, and first-flight portions of the mission, coupling an open-loop, spin-stabilized entry vehicle with a closed-loop aerial mobility system. After cruise-stage separation, the 4.5 m aeroshell executes entry at ~7.4 km/s, followed by deployment of a drogue parachute at Mach 1.5. The vehicle then descends over the next 100 minutes until the main parachute is barometrically deployed near 5 km pressure altitude. The heatshield is released two minutes after main deploy, exposing the rotorcraft to the titan environment. Key events during “preparation for powered flight” include thermal-loop reconfiguration, a gravity-driven pose to expose the rotors, rotor-based yaw despin, and lander release at ~900 m altitude. Post-release, the lander transitions from free fall into controlled flight, descends to a search altitude, performs lidar/NavCam hazard mapping and breadcrumb navigation, and executes terminal descent and touchdown. Direct-to-Earth tones provide critical-event coverage with planned inhibits for corona and shock events. Successful delivery to the surface enables Dragonfly’s three-year science mission to explore the region near Selk impact crater.