3322: Dragonfly

Dragonfly

|< < Prev #3322 (November 9, 2026)

Title text: I'm excited for Dragonfly, because on the list of places in the solar system that I desperately want more pictures from, 'Titan's surface' is right up there at the top with 'Jupiter's atmosphere.'

|< < Prev Random explanation

Explanation

This is one of 68 incomplete explanations: This page was created by a future space helicopter. Don't remove this notice too soon. You can help by editing the explanation!

The comic depicts a checklist of all bodies in the Solar System with thick enough atmospheres and not too hot (e.g. the Sun itself) that helicopters can work there, tick-marks having been added to the boxes of those two where humanity has already managed to fly a helicopter, and one other being annotated to show the anticipation of it shortly being additionally ticked.

Dragonfly is a NASA mission to send an aircraft to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, planned to be launched in 2028. This would make Titan the third celestial body to have a flying vehicle/helicopter on it, after previously pioneering helicopter flight upon Earth and Mars.

The title text continues with the general theme of an excited anticipation of Dragonfly's mission to Titan, but also reveals a desire for a proper atmospheric-loitering Jupiter mission as well.

Transcript

This is one of 44 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. You can help by editing the transcript!

Places in the solar system where helicopters can work

[2 tick boxes across and 4 tick boxes down, left column to right column]

Earth [tick], Mars [tick], Venus, Titan (circled, with a label in the top right that says Soon!), Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

[Caption below panel]

When Dragonfly reaches Titan in 2034, we'll go from 25% to 37% on the solar system helicopter achievement checklist.

  Add comment 

Discussion

First :D The Black Hat Guy (talk) 20:39, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

s3c0nd p0st. 73.132.167.116 20:40, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

Thirdsies! 7amiþ = moi.__init__(t, c) 20:44, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

4 -- somefan (talk | contribs) 20:44, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

F!r5t proper edit! 2A00:23C6:E352:D301:F015:9866:95F2:954E 20:48, 9 November 2026 (UTC) [phobos] Why does the link to earth include a focke wulf 190 in the editing bit? 2A00:23C6:E352:D301:F015:9866:95F2:954E 20:55, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

Titan isn't considered a planet according to the relatively well-known 2006 IAU definition. (Sorry, Pluto!) Would linking to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophysical definition of planet be helpful to help explain why it could be so considered? Davidhbrown (talk) 21:15, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

The comic never says "planet", it says "places". Barmar (talk) 21:49, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

It doesn't really help the percentage thing make sense though. Is Mercury not a place? It's been mysteriously dropped out. And if we're okay with a moon in this list, why just the one? Why doesn't Pluto get to be included? B1rdstrike (talk) 22:20, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

I wondered that too (why just those 8 places). I'm no expert on planets, etc. but I'm wondering if these 8 are the only ones that _could_ have helicopters work on them. Maybe the rest are not included because e.g. they have no atmosphere at all so nothing for the helicopter blades to push against. Or they have too much atmosphere or gravity is so high it would be practically impossible to get enough thrust. Whatever, I'm thinking he's listed the places where helicopters might work and then checking them off once we've put one there. 75.112.204.110 22:35, 9 November 2026 (UTC)Pat

Yeah, mercury lacks an atmosphere, so why bother listing it? 204.113.253.53 22:42, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

It is a percentage achieved of all the possible achievements. (Eight listed locales... compare with what if? 30, which has just one more 'not totally airless' location - the Sun.) They are all the ones in the 'completion checklist'. Each extra one of these locales achieved adds a further 12.5% towards the 100% aim. 2.98.69.95 23:44, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

The list in the comic matches up with the table at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere#Atmospheres_in_the_Solar_System, if you only consider bodies with at least 1kPa atmospheric pressure and exclude the Sun. 66.11.235.121 23:45, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

I like how short and concise this explanation is. It says exactly what it needs to with hyperlinks and nothing extra. Dogman15 (talk) 23:12, 9 November 2026 (UTC)

Hate to break it to you, but that's because it's not done. It'll look just as crowded as any other after a few weeks.^[humor] 7amiþ = moi.__init__(t, c) 00:41, 10 November 2026 (UTC)

Any reason why 37.5 would be rounded to 37 and not 38? Doesn't match either standard or towards even rounding, ignoring the obvious truncation option... Wiget (talk) 01:43, 10 November 2026 (UTC)
        Add comment