Since the focus on Martian exploration ramped up in the mid-1990s, most of the familiarity with the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) sequence of landers and rovers to the surface of other planets has taken place against the backdrop of Mars.

This combination of a dense atmosphere and low gravity change elements for Dragonfly’s EDL over those of the Mars missions.

Designing for various weather potentialities from the aeroshell perspective includes examining the atmospheric density side of the equation as well as the specific temperature loads and mass ingestions (i.e. descending through clouds) possible after heat shield separation.

At Mars, a direct line of sight to Earth for the entire EDL sequence — while preferred — is no longer a requirement due to the possible use of other multipurpose orbiting satellites that can serve as communications relays.

This data, excluding a blackout period during the plasma stage of entry, will allow mission controllers to know that Dragonfly executed the EDL sequence as planned and has successfully landed on Titan’s surface.

At their closest approach, the two planets pass 1.2 billion km from each other, resulting in a one-way communication time of approximately 66.7 minutes.