The artificially intelligent Dragonfly mission has received formal approval from NASA to proceed with full development.
The results of Dragonfly's confirmation examination were made public by agency representatives last week.
This assessment serves as a milestone in the majority of NASA projects' lives, denoting the official agency commitment to the space mission's final design, building, and launch.
A financial and scheduling commitment is usually established based on the results of each mission's confirmation evaluation.
NASA's associate administrator for scientific mission directorate, Nicky Fox, stated, "Dragonfly is a spectacular science mission with broad community interest.
We are excited to take this mission on next steps." "Titani will challenge our understanding of what is possible to accomplish with rotorcraft beyond Earth."
In the case of Dragonfly, NASA confirmed the mission with a total lifecycle cost of $3.35 billion and a launch date of July 2028.
Rising costs are not necessarily a surprise on a mission as innovative as Dragonfly. After reaching Titan, the eight-bladed rotorcraft lander will soar from place to place on Saturn's hazy moon, exploring environments rich in organic molecules, the building blocks of life.
Dragonfly will be more than 200 times as massive as Ingenuity and will operate six times farther from Earth.