This is a challenging mission for a number of reasons, beginning with getting down to the surface. Because Titan has a thick atmosphere, it will take about 90 minutes for the spacecraft to descend. "Curiosity had 7 minutes of terror when it landed on Mars," Braun said. "We're going to have 90 minutes of terror on Titan."

Launch costs were high and minimizing mass sent to space was the main driver for mission design. To reduce mass, mission designs employed nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP), in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) to produce propellants for ascent from Mars and reliance on efficient recycling of gaseous and liquid wastes.

In a bold, strategic move for the U.S., acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy announced plans on August 5 to build a nuclear fission reactor for deployment on the lunar surface in 2030. Doing so would allow the United States to gain a foothold on the moon by the time China plans to land the first taikonaut,

The true Earth-Moon distance ranges from approximately 224,000 to 252,000 miles (360,000 to 405,000 kilometers), depending on the position of the Moon’s orbit.