Sci-Fest coming  to the Panida

March 20, 2023

The first ever Sci-Fest will be at the Panida Theater, 300 N First Avenue, Sandpoint, at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 1, with a presentation on NASA's Dragonfly Mission to Jupiter's moon, Titan, followed by a big screen showing of "Star Wars: Rogue One."

Sci-Fest starts off with a discussion with the Deputy Principal Investigator for the Dragonfly Mission to Titan, University of Idaho’s Dr. Jason Barnes. Dr. Barnes will speak with you about the mission to Saturn’s largest moon Titan. Titan is the only moon in our solar system with an atmosphere.

Dragonfly is the first quadcopter spacecraft in the world. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and the only moon in our solar system with an atmosphere.

Dragonfly will launch in 2026 and arrive in 2034. The rotorcraft will fly to dozens of promising locations on Titan looking for prebiotic chemical processes common on both Titan and Earth. Dragonfly marks the first time NASA will fly a multi-rotor vehicle for science on another planet; it has eight rotors and flies like a large drone. It will take advantage of Titan’s dense atmosphere – four times denser than Earth’s – to become the first vehicle ever to fly its entire science payload to new places for repeatable and targeted access to surface materials.

Titan is an analog to the very early Earth, and can provide clues to how life may have arisen on our planet. During its 2.7-year baseline mission, Dragonfly will explore diverse environments from organic dunes to the floor of an impact crater where liquid water and complex organic materials key to life once existed together for possibly tens of thousands of years. Its instruments will study how far prebiotic chemistry may have progressed. They also will investigate the moon’s atmospheric and surface properties and its subsurface ocean and liquid reservoirs.

Additionally, instruments will search for chemical evidence of past or extant life.

“With the Dragonfly mission, NASA will once again do what no one else can do,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “Visiting this mysterious ocean world could revolutionize what we know about life in the universe. This cutting-edge mission would have been unthinkable even just a few years ago, but we’re now ready for Dragonfly’s amazing flight.”

This is an event for the whole family!

Tickets are $20 adults and $10 for children, available at www.panidatheater.org or at the door. Doors open at 5 p.m.