# NASA SPARK project for Titan exploration > Live situation record from CLSTR: https://clstr.news/situations/nasa-spark-project-for-titan-exploration > Updated: 2026-08-20T00:12:09.000Z. Sources: 7. Developments: 2. NASA is funding the SPARK (Solid-state Propulsion for Autonomous Reconnaissance of Karst) project through its Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. The mission, led by Daniel Drew of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, aims to deploy swarms of small, spherical aerobots to explore the underground caves and sinkholes of Saturn’s moon, Titan. Because Titan’s complex karst terrain poses significant challenges for traditional wheeled rovers, the project proposes using electrohydrodynamic (EHD) propulsion. This solid-state technology uses electric fields to accelerate ions, allowing for silent, omnidirectional maneuverability without mechanical rotors. While inefficient on Earth, the dense atmosphere of Titan is expected to make this method over 100 times more efficient than traditional rotorcraft. The project is currently in an initial nine-month phase dedicated to feasibility testing and numerical simulations. If these stages are successful, the mission will proceed to a two-year prototype evaluation phase. It remains undetermined whether these aerobots will launch in conjunction with NASA’s Dragonfly mission in 2028 or require a separate mission. ## Timeline ### 2026-08-20: NASA funds spherical ion-propelled robots to explore Titan’s caves NASA is funding the SPARK project, which aims to use swarms of ion-propelled spherical aerobots to explore the underground cave systems of Saturn’s moon, Titan. 2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/nasa-funds-spherical-ion-propelled-robots-to-explore-titans-caves ### 2026-08-17: NASA funds SPARK project to explore Titan's underground caves NASA is funding the SPARK project to develop ion-propelled aerobots capable of exploring the underground cave networks of Saturn's moon, Titan. 5 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/nasa-funds-spark-project-to-explore-titans-underground-caves --- Cite as: NASA SPARK project for Titan exploration. CLSTR, https://clstr.news/situations/nasa-spark-project-for-titan-exploration