Cassini-Hyugens probe lands on Titan
Congratulations all around to the teams that worked on both the Cassini Spacecraft and the Hyugens probe that successfully parachuted into the Titan atmosphere and is currently relaying information back through the Cassini probe and the Deep Space Network.
Note that these are the first images of the surface of Titan ever seen, as it is covered in clouds. Titan is a moon of Saturn that is approximately the same size as Earth and has an atmosphere of similar thickness.
ESA's Huygens spacecraft has successfully landed on the surface of Titan, project officials said Friday. The probe, which detached from the Cassini spacecraft December 25, entered Titan's upper atmosphere 5:13 am EST (1013 GMT), landing on the surface at about 7:34 am EST (1234 GMT), based on a planned timeline for the mission. Engineers believe the spacecraft successfully descended through the atmosphere and landed on a solid surface because the probe's carrier wave, the spacecraft's only direct transmission to Earth during the encounter, was detected by radio telescopes on Earth during the planned descent and well after landing. Scientific data collected by Huygens was transmitted to the Cassini orbiter as is flew by Titan; it will relay the data to Earth later today. Some initial results may be released later Friday, although a more comprehensive release of data is not expected until Saturday.
See the Hyugens homepage for more information.
Posted by elkaim at January 14, 2005 4:59 PM