Touchdown on Titan!

WooHoo!This just in... the ESA Huygens probe appears to have survived the landing on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and is now transmitting to the Cassini orbiter. Damn, we live in exciting times.Cheers -- Sylas

The best Birthday present I've ever gotten.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

And here's an actual photograph of the touchdown: (Sorry, couldn't resist. I saw the picture at the webpage you linked to and couldn't believe Nasa would use such a schmaltzy image.)But I couldn't find anyting about actually landing on Titan, only that it had entered the atmosphere. It says the time of touchdown is "CET 13.34", which is central European time, which translates to 7:34 Eastern Time US, which was a couple hours ago, but no mention about whether they know if it survived the landing. There's a running banner at ESA - Cassini-Huygens that says the first data will arrive at 17:15, which if that's a CET time would be 11:15 ET US.--Percy

according to the ESA:ESA - Radio astronomers confirm Huygens entry in the atmosphere of Titanradio telescopes back here have picked up the carrier signal from Hugens radio transmitter, which indicates that the heatshield had dropped off and the parachutes have deployed. So all we know is it survived re-entry.Now we're waiting for Cassini to transmit us the actual data. I'm currently alternating between crossing my fingers and rubbing my hands in anticipation :-)

This news just in from Cassini | NASA: --Percy

http://www.brentrasmussen.com/...005/01/huygens_to_desc.htmlLatest addition:

quote:

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Update: 12:10 ESA Mission briefing in Damstadt Germany. Data quality and other factors indicate a possible soft, liquid, landing- Unconfirmed. Methane Oceans? Looks like it just might be!

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Touchdown, on land. The first images now arriving. These are pretty raw; more processing will be done I imagine. Titan is very cold; but with oceans and weather and possibly continents. It's different, though. If there are oceans, it won't be water. Perhaps ethane. Early images seem to show shoreline, but stay tuned for proper analysis. The image was "taken from an altitude of 16.2 kilometres with a resolution of approximately 40 metres per pixel. It apparently shows short, stubby drainage channels leading to a shoreline." This is "taken at an altitude of 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) with a resolution of 20 meters (about 65 feet) per pixel. It shows what could be the landing site, with shorelines and boundaries between raised ground and flooded plains.". This shows "surface of Titan with ice blocks strewn around. The size and distance of the blocks will be determined when the image is properly processed."Images linked from NASA pages, at Cassini | NASA. Also available at the ESA pages at ESA - Cassini-Huygens

Do you think the weatherworn appearance of the 'blocks'might indicate dust/rock particles and high surface winds? Where`s Irish Rockhound?

Surely they're just Horta eggs P.S. I had to look up what they were called - I'm not that sad !

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Confused ? You will be...

sorry dear, you already admitted to a sordid past in front of sci/fi TV.

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Asgara
"Embrace the pain, spank your inner moppet, whatever....but get over it"http://asgarasworld.bravepages.com
http://perditionsgate.bravepages.com

Oh no, my secret is out......but don't think I don't recognise your sig On the other hand there are varying levels of being a saddo - I just remembered there was an ST episode with (silicon) rock like eggs and Google did the rest. I've known people who could tell you, straight off the top of their heads, the episode title, which series and episode number it was, how long before the first guy in a red shirt died, who the guest stars were and when it first aired both here and in the States.Getting back on topic, as a Brit I'm glad we're involved in this seemingly successful mission after the fiasco of the Beagle 2 Mars mission a year ago. Another failure would have been hard to live down.

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Confused ? You will be...

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

According to a program on the BBC tonight the only hi-res camera on board Huygens is black-and-white. There is however some low-res colour information available and colour(ised ?) piccies will be forthcoming sometime in the future, but they gave no hint of the time frame.It will be interesting to see if any of them can match up to those provided by jar

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Confused ? You will be...

actual color picture: showing the orange tint to the atmosphere and other materials.also check out this composite of shots taken during landing:
Catalog Page for PIA07230I see shoreline, waves, wind-blown ice .... weather?and it appears that Huygens is only 8 feet (2.4m) from the shore ...

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand RebelAAmerican.Zen[Deist
{{{Buddha walks off laughing with joy}}}

There you go,Jar, can the Tardis beat these instruments?Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI)
This instrument contains a suite of sensors that will measure the physical and electrical properties of Titan's atmosphere. Accelerometers will measure forces in all three axes as the probe descends through the atmosphere. With the aerodynamic properties of the probe already known, it will be possible to determine the density of Titan's atmosphere and to detect wind gusts. In the event of a landing on a liquid surface, the probe motion due to waves will also be measurable. Temperature and pressure sensors will also measure the thermal properties of the atmosphere. The Permittivity and Electromagnetic Wave Analyzer component will measure the electron and ion (i.e., positively charged particle) conductivities of the atmosphere and search for electromagnetic wave activity. On the surface of Titan, the conductivity and permittivity (i.e., the ratio of electric flux density produced to the strength of the electric field producing the flux) of the surface material will be measured.
For more information, visit the science team's Web site.Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE)
This experiment will use an ultra-stable oscillator to improve communication with the probe by giving it a very stable carrier frequency. The probe drift caused by winds in Titan's atmosphere will induce a measurable Doppler shift in the carrier signal. The swinging motion of the probe beneath its parachute due to atmospheric properties may also be detected.
For more information, visit the science team's Web site.Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR)
This instrument will make a range of imaging and spectral observations using several sensors and fields of view. By measuring the upward and downward flow of radiation, the radiation balance (or imbalance) of the thick Titan atmosphere will be measured. Solar sensors will measure the light intensity around the Sun due to scattering by aerosols in the atmosphere. This will permit the calculation of the size and number density of the suspended particles. Two imagers (one visible, one infrared) will observe the surface during the latter stages of the descent and, as the probe slowly spins, build up a mosaic of pictures around the landing site. There will also be a side-view visible imager to get a horizontal view of the horizon and the underside of the cloud deck. For spectral measurements of the surface, a lamp that will switch on shortly before landing will augment the weak sunlight.Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS)
This instrument will be a versatile gas chemical analyzer designed to identify and measure chemicals in Titan's atmosphere. It will be equipped with samplers that will be filled at high altitude for analysis. The mass spectrometer will build a model of the molecular masses of each gas, and a more powerful separation of molecular and isotopic species will be accomplished by the gas chromatograph. During descent, the GCMS will also analyze pyrolysis products (i.e., samples altered by heating) passed to it from the Aerosol Collector Pyrolyser. Finally, the GCMS will measure the composition of Titan's surface in the event of a safe landing. This investigation will be made possible by heating the GCMS instrument just prior to impact in order to vaporize the surface material upon contact.Aerosol Collector and Pyrolyser (ACP)
This experiment will draw in aerosol particles from the atmosphere through filters, then heat the trapped samples in ovens (the process of pyrolysis) to vaporize volatiles and decompose the complex organic materials. The products will then be flushed along a pipe to the GCMS instrument for analysis. Two filters will be provided to collect samples at different altitudes.
For more information, visit the science team's Web site.Surface-Science Package (SSP)
The SSP contains a number of sensors designed to determine the physical properties of Titan's surface at the point of impact, whether the surface is solid or liquid. An acoustic sounder, activated during the last 100 meters of the descent, will continuously determine the distance to the surface, measuring the rate of descent and the surface roughness (e.g., due to waves). If the surface is liquid, the sounder will measure the speed of sound in the "ocean" and possibly also the subsurface structure (depth). During descent, measurements of the speed of sound will give information on atmospheric composition and temperature, and an accelerometer will accurately record the deceleration profile at impact, indicating the hardness and structure of the surface. A tilt sensor will measure any pendulum motion during the descent and will indicate the probe attitude after landing and show any motion due to waves. If the surface is, indeed, liquid, other sensors will measure its density, temperature and light reflecting properties, thermal conductivity, heat capacity, and electrical permittivity.