active2018–2026 (multiple phases)

Dragonfly Fuselage Design

Aerodynamic design and analysis supporting the fuselage of NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft lander, which will fly to Saturn's moon Titan. CFAL's work spans rotor-fuselage interaction, heatshield/backshell separation aerodynamics, in-ground-effect and outwash/saltation behavior on Titan's surface, and wind-tunnel uncertainty quantification.

Sponsor: NASA (subcontract through Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory)
Funding: $475,000 (current phase, 2024–2026)
Collaborators: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Space and Planetary Aerodynamics Rotorcraft and Advanced Air Mobility Hypersonics and Reentry

Team

Lab Director / Associate Professor

Michael P. Kinzel

Computational fluid dynamics, multiphase flow, rotorcraft and hypersonic aerodynamics

Website Scholar

Ph.D. Candidate

Jackson Asiatico

Rotor-fuselage interactions for aircraft; space exploration rotorcraft ground operations

Ph.D. Candidate

Edward Clutter

A fundamental model of heatshield release aerodynamics (Dragonfly / Titan)

Related Publications

2026

A Semi-Empirical Model of the Heatshield Separation: Application to Titan

EG Clutter, M Kinzel, P do Vale Pereira

AIAA SCITECH 2026 Forum, 0702, 2026

Dragonfly Fuselage Design

Team

Michael P. Kinzel

Jackson Asiatico

Edward Clutter

Related Publications

A Semi-Empirical Model of the Heatshield Separation: Application to Titan

A Numerical Study of In-Ground Effect Aerodynamics and Sediment Entrainment for the Dragonfly Lander

Numerical Analysis of Surface Interactions and Sediment Transport for a Rotorcraft Lander on Titan

Evaluation of Turbulence Modeling Effects on Ground Shear Stress and Tip Vortex Dynamics for the Dragonfly Rotor in Ground Effect

An Evaluation of Yaw Moment Driven by Rotor-Fuselage Interactions

Dragonfly: An Evaluation of the Unsteady Aerodynamics of Heatshield Separation on Titan

The Dragonfly Saltation Experiment: Flowfield and Measurements

Aerodynamics of NASA's Dragonfly Lander: An Assessment of Adverse Yaw Due to Rotor-Body Interactions

Experimental Study of Rotor-Sand Ground Interactions Utilizing Scaled NASA Dragonfly Model

An Evaluation of Uncertainty for the Dragonfly Aircraft in the 14-By-22-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel

DragonFly: A Study of the Effect of the Heatshield Separation

An assessment of Dragonfly-Backshell aerodynamics preparing for the initial flight on Titan

A Numerical Investigation of the Dragonfly Lander Exiting an Aero Backshell During Descent into Titan

Aerodynamic Investigation of a Rotorcraft Lander Fixed to a Descending Capsule Backshell

Prediction of aerodynamically-triggered condensation: Application to the Dragonfly rotorcraft in Titan's atmosphere