Keith’s note: two items from NASA about the Dragonfly mission just dropped – almost simultaneously: “Dragonfly Astrobiology Mission Progresses Through Key Development And Test Activities“, which spins things in a positive light and highlights progress made thus far, and “NASA’s Management Of The Dragonfly Project“ from the NASA Office of Inspector General which highlights schedule delays and cost overruns for Dragonfly. NASA PAO usually has a heads up from OIG that a report is coming out. Or maybe it is just a coincidence. That said, NASA is simply ignoring the true progress of this mission and why it has been delayed. Oh yes and NASA has immense budget pressures right now.
- NASA OIG says: “In January 2022, Dragonfly was approved to continue development with an updated estimated life-cycle cost range of $2.1 to $2.5 billion and expected launch date of June 2027. Then in March 2023, NASA directed project officials to initiate a replan due to funding constraints. The replan, which was completed in July 2023, included new cost, staffing, and schedule plans. As a result, the project estimated a new launch readiness date of July 2028 with an expected arrival at Titan in 2034. By the time NASA formally established the project’s cost and schedule baseline in April 2024, life-cycle costs had grown to $3.35 billion and the launch readiness date was delayed by over 2 years.”
- NASA PAO says “NASA’s Dragonfly mission has cleared several key design, development and testing milestones and remains on track toward launch in July 2028.” (no mention of any cost overruns. delays etc.)
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