Aerial Vehicle for In situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance

AVIATR

Mission Profile

AVIATR (Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance) is a concept for a nuclear-powered airplane that would fly through Titan's thick nitrogen atmosphere to conduct in-situ atmospheric science and high-resolution surface imaging across a broad geographic range. Proposed around 2012 as a competed NASA mission concept, the airplane would be powered by a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator and could fly thousands of kilometers during its operational lifetime, far exceeding the reach of a lander. AVIATR was not selected for development but inspired the thinking that eventually led to the Dragonfly rotorcraft mission selected for New Frontiers competition in 2019, which is currently in development for launch in the early 2030s. Titan's dense atmosphere and low gravity make aerial vehicles unusually practical compared to any other planetary body in the solar system.