European Craft Makes Safe, Soft Landing on Saturn Moon

[Desperadoe]

ARMSTADT, Germany, Jan. 14 - A European spacecraft landed safely today on the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, scientists here said, and began transmitting data back to Earth.

Mission controllers said they were confident the Huygens craft made a soft landing by parachute because it was still transmitting signals long after its scheduled touchdown at about 1:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. Eastern time).

"We know it has landed based on the laws of gravity," the European Space Agency's science director, David Southwood, said.

"It simply cannot still be flying. It's got to be on a solid surface, and it must be soft."<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/14/science/14cnd-titan.html?hp&ex=1105765200&en=d21b36328660142a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[UpInArms]

1. thanks for the post, Desperadoe

fascinating stuff, that.

Its dense hydrocarbon smog suggests complex chemical processes like those that led to life on Earth. Dr. Tomasko said previous observations indicated that the atmosphere would appear green at higher altitudes and then turn orange closer to the surface.

This atmosphere has also been frustrating. The perpetual smoggy veil has limited any view of Titan's surface to little more than a vague patchwork of light and dark regions, with only some hints of rugged topography.

The mission by the 700-pound Huygens, built and operated by the European Space Agency, is part of a $3.2 billion undertaking by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, ESA and the Italian Space Agency.

Huygens (named for the 17th-century Dutch astronomer) rode piggyback on NASA's six-ton Cassini spacecraft for the seven-year journey to the wide-ranging orbit of Saturn. On the night of Dec. 24-25, Cassini released its fellow traveler for its solo cruise on course for Titan and is now in a position to relay all the data sent from Huygens during the descent and landing.

7 years to get there - I do hope the transmissions are not garbled.

[dbt]

2. "Dark Side Of The Moon" is playing on my computer

at the time of your post.

[janx]

53. How appropriate! Kick-A!

I looked around for it in our house; I can only remember it, but I remember it well. That might make a nice present next holiday.

[goodboy]

3. wonder when we'll get pictures?

[htuttle]

4. I think at about 2:45 EST, according to what I read from the ESA

Maybe somewhat sooner.

[goodboy]

5. SWEET! What an exciting day!

[NYC]

9. It's time. Any news of pictures?

Anyone?

[goodboy]

36. I haven't seen anything yet./

[newscott]

26. Can't wait to see if there are any

Sirens of Titan!!!!! :headbang:

[burrowowl]

50. A K.V.

fan?

[chelsea0011]

6. This is amazing. Pictures and data all the way, hopefully

Mars and Saturn have been exciting.

[psychopomp]

7. What is amazing is that it landed *on something*

The surface was thought likely to be liquid methane and ethane. I have been looking forward to this moment for a long time...exciting stuff!

[pmbryant]

8. Excellent

:thumbsup:

Hadn't been aware of the potential for garbled transmissions, though. Hope that doesn't happen.

--Peter

[ItsThePeopleStupid]

10. NASA TV link - Huygens update at 2:45 EST

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

[Ian David]

11. I'm still getting a post-up

Huygens Descent
Switching to European Space Agency

Anyone getting moving video yet?

There was a briefig on C-SPAN earlier, but they weren't getting pictures back yet.

[Squatch]

12. Refresh it

[Ian David]

13. Oooh! They discovered techno-music on Titan!

[Barrett808]

31. All I'm seeing is some educational content on stars and galaxies n/t

[htuttle]

14. Pictures from the descent into the atmosphere on NASA TV now!

[Ian David]

15. Wow!

I'm already over-whelmed.

This is much more than I expected in my wildest dreams to see.

I can't wait for the rest.




Did anyone else spot that giant face, pyramids, and landing strip?
<kidding>

[htuttle]

16. The one from 16K up that I saw...

...looked a lot like an aerial photo of Greenland.

Definite signs of liquid erosion, IMO.

Here it is:





More pictures later this evening.

[Ian David]

18. That's all we're getting for now?

I've been paying $1.20 a year for the past 10 years for this.

I want more pictures!

[janx]

44. Same here! I can't wait! We must have more pics!

ESA is supposedly processing something like 350 pics now!

[pretzel4gore]

65. see! nasa tried to please you guys

and 'fox' news therefor was able to run a 'man never landed on the moon' scam by using nasa's fabricated pics of flags flying and so on...nasa's real pics were for inhouse uses but public demand resulted in publication of phonies....many years later giving anti government or rather anti public service 'fox' news ammo!

[Ian David]

17. Mine looks awful on RealPlayer, much better on WindowsMedia

Obviously, they're using major bandwidth. It's pretty hesitating.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. Rocks. The 1st pic shows a bunch of rocks.

not that this doesn't rock.

[DavidDvorkin]

20. It's always rocks

Whenever a spacecraft lands on another planet or moon, what we get is pictures of rocks.

This is proof that a superrace of aliens roamed the young galaxy billions of years ago, seeding all the surfaces with rocks. In time, their plans will reach fruition, and all those rocks will . . . well, probably just keep lying there. It's too complex and subtle for us to understand.

[Dead_Parrot]

21. ROFLMAO... n/t

[NewYorkerfromMass]

22. well at least none of them resemble (ahem) "lumber"

anyone got a link to that DU thread?

[Dead_Parrot]

23. Here...

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html

[Canuckistanian]

25. A EUROPEAN triumph..

Although some RW'ers somewhere will spin this as a European plot to socialize the universe....

[pmbryant]

28. Cassini/Huygens is a joint American/European project

The European Huygens probe wouldn't have gotten anywhere without the American Cassini, so it is more of a joint triumph.

--Peter

[janx]

52. Yes, it is--but most American media want to bury it.

Why isn't this the predominant news of the day/week/year?

[Canuckistanian]

24. Remember guys, the secret is....

...Keep bangin' those rocks together......

[Ian David]

27. Should I have been surprised to see rocks?

I'm pleased that there are rocks.

But I expected a big ball of slush.

But rocks make me happy.

[Ian David]

29. Huygens pics

Landing 01


Landing 02

What is that I'm looking at there? Is that a close-up of a nearby rock, or one of the ariel shots?

Landing 03

[Barrett808]

30. They're saying at the ESA site that these are chunks of ice n/t

[NewYorkerfromMass]

33. No. I am sure it is wood. Milled lumber in fact

I read it here on DU once before.

[eyepaddle]

46. LOL

Wow, that one was a doozy--but be careful, are you sure you want to resurrect it?

[AngryAmish]

32. Best post of the Week

[DavidDvorkin]

34. Gee, thanks

We have to keep each other amused, just to get through the next four years.

[pretzel4gore]

68. maybe they're eggs!

of some kind...alien eggs! just laying there, waiting for victims so they can hatch and open their claws and so on....:wow:

[htuttle]

57. That might be more than rocks

I found slightly larger copy of it here:


I can't tell how much of what I'm seeing is distortion due to image compression, but I'm getting the odd impression that there is a layer of some sort of liquid there, just above the ground.

I'm getting the impression of specularity from several of the spaces in between the ice chunks (ie., what look like rocks), and the two rocks right at the bottom of the frame seem a bit faded compared to the ones right above them -- almost as though they were just under the surface of thin, clear fluid.

On the other hand, there are other places where it really looks like there's no liquid -- just solid 'ground', so maybe it's pools of them.

Or maybe it's smooth solid ice between the chunks.

Or maybe it's nothing -- just an optical illusion.

:shrug:

Hope they can generate a color version of some of these.

[Barrett808]

35. CNN: NASA removed an image of Titan's surface from its Web site

For unknown reasons, NASA, which operates Cassini, the satellite orbiting Saturn that relayed Huygens' signal, removed an image of Titan's surface from its Web site. ESA had not released that image. No official information was available about the image from Titan's surface.


(more)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/14/huygens.titan/index.html

[slutticus]

37. I don't think NASA was supposed to release this image

The NASA site, before the image was posted, referred you to the ESA site. I think NASA may have stepped on some toes. Oops.

[Barrett808]

38. Oh, come on, you're no fun -- bring on the wacky conspiracy theories! n/t

[janx]

42. I can't believe this isn't getting more attention.

From the link you posted:

The 703-pound, battery-powered Huygens probe parachuted through Titan's clouds of methane and nitrogen for two-and-a-half hours, sampling gases and capturing panoramic pictures along the way.

Huygens hit the upper atmosphere 789 miles (1,270 kilometers) above the moon at a speed of about 13,700 mph (22,000 km/h). A series of three parachutes slowed the craft to just 15 mph (24 km/h).

Chutes and special insulation protected Huygens from temperature swings and violent air currents. Strong winds -- in excess of 311 mph (500 km/h) -- buffeted the craft.

Its sensors deduced wind speed, atmospheric pressure and the conductivity of Titan's air. Methane clouds and possibly hydrocarbon rain was analyzed by an onboard gas chromatograph. A microphone listened for thunder.

This is the most exciting development in space exploration I've encountered since the moon landing when I was a little girl!

[htuttle]

39. HOLY COW! THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE AUDIO FROM TITAN!

I'd totally missed this in previous articles. Maybe it hasn't been mentioned:

The sounds of Titan's stormy atmosphere were recorded with an onboard microphone, and scientists hope they might even hear lightning strikes when they analyse the data.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4175099.stm

That's the first extraterrestrial audio ever recorded, as far as I know. I don't think Mars' atmosphere is dense enough to propagate sound, and any microphones would burn right up on Venus.

[janx]

54. Microphones everywhere.

Wind? Thunder?

[daleo]

62. I thought I recalled something about wind hitting the mikes on Mars.

I don't know. I could be mistaken. The Mars Polar Lander mission was supposed to have this feature, but it was lost I think. I don't know about missions since then.

[hunter]

40. Best news of the day!

Wow. I was getting worn down by depressing news.

[janx]

41. kick

[GetTheRightVote]

43. awesome, just awsome

:kick:

if we were not so busy throwing our money away on the war and the rich in this country, we would be a bigger part of such adventures.

[janx]

47. We were a good part of it.

But it doesn't seem to get the press it deserves.

[janx]

45. The Science Channel is covering this.

On Direct TV, it's 284.

[Ian David]

48. Not a bad deal: $1.20 per American for 10 years

We could buy dozens of these things every year for the same price some people spend on AOL.

[janx]

49. I like the Science Channel.

The guy who did the interviewing was somewhat of a clown, but I loved learning more about today's miracle of science.

I also learned that the reason we haven't seen any more pics is that the team at the ESA has to decompress them, analyze them, and then assemble them into some kind of mosaic.

[janx]

51. kick for historic news that no one will be aware of but should be

[theHandpuppet]

55. Lots of info and links here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4175099.stm

[janx]

56. Thanks! Such an accomplishment! Why aren't more of us

crazy and ecstatic over this?

[janx]

58. Handpuppet!

This is great, from your link:

"The pictures just got better after we passed through the haze," said Marty Tomasko, who leads the probe's imaging team.

He added that the images would still need to be cleaned up and that scientists would have to study the pictures closely to interpret them.

"We may be seeing a coastline, but that does not necessarily mean it's liquid now," mission scientist Andrew Ball, of the Open University told the BBC News website.

"It looks like something has flowed at some time to make those channels. But is it something that has solidified?"

[janx]

59. kick for optimism

[janx]

60. another kick

[98geoduck]

61. Bush says "screw that, were going to the real moon"

kinda kidding

[daleo]

63. It must be asked: Are Christian fundamentalists OK with this?

I know about the "young earth" nonsense, but do they interfere with extra-terrestrial scientific research? At least one fellow of my acquaintance whose church is kind of loopy about evolution still maintains an avid interest in space exploration, but he may be an exception.

[janx]

66. I wondered about that too.

A big reason for the interest in Titan is because it is supposed to resemble what the earth may have looked like 3.8 billion years ago.

[ausiedownunderground]

64. This is European awesome!!!!

Lets give it to Europe- A big pat on the back! They with US help have landed a spacecraft on Titan. Most of "Jesusland" wouldn't have a clue where this is, but god it must be s00000 important!
American's you helped "big time" on this so "Pat yourself on the back"! But remember this was a financially shared missiom with "The Rest of the World"! We all did this together! Get it!

[janx]

67. Sounds of Titan

http://planetary.org/sounds/huygens_sounds.html

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM85Q71Y3E_index_0.html

[struggle4progress]

69. kick for unmanned robotic exploration!