- Cassini-Huygens Mission status report

Mike Flugennock said:
In article , "Matt J.
McCullar" wrote:

Thanks for posting the info! I saw a mockup of the Cassini probe last year
and it's a BIG probe.

The time I'm having following the MER missions had helped me pretty much
totally forget the time it was taking for Cassini to get to Saturn. I've
been following Cassini much more closely since the MER landings, as
orbital insertion date drew closer, but the thing that really drove me
nuts was seeing those beautiful full-frame color shots of Saturn that
looked like you could reach out and touch it -- and the craft was still
something like six months out.

I'm absolutely jumping out of my socks at the opportunity to check out
Saturn as closely as I've seen Jupiter -- and those Cassini Jupiter flyby
fotos had me licking my chops anticipating the close Saturn images -- and
thinking of the fotos Huygens will send back from Titan if all goes well
has got me almost totally unable to sit still.

Better than Jupiter. Cassini's instruments are quite a bit
newer than Gallileo's were, and Cassini has a functioning
high gain antenna. Some of the stuff that Gallileo was
supposed to do but didn't, much, we'll see for the first
time with Cassini. Some of the neater aspects of that
will be plenty of high-resolution movies of atmospheric
changes on Saturn and Titan.


Between the extended MER missions and Cassini, I can see I'm going to be
spending a lot of time "off-world" this summer.

Don't forget the X-Prize, the return of the Genesis Solar
Wind samples, and the launches of MESSENGER and Deep Impact
(to add to the launches of Hayabusa/Muses-C and Rosetta).

In article ,
(Christopher M. Jones) wrote:

Mike Flugennock said:
In article , "Matt J.
McCullar" wrote:

Thanks for posting the info! I saw a mockup of the Cassini probe
last year
and it's a BIG probe.

(massive self-snippage)

I'm absolutely jumping out of my socks at the opportunity to check out
Saturn as closely as I've seen Jupiter -- and those Cassini Jupiter flyby
fotos had me licking my chops anticipating the close Saturn images -- and
thinking of the fotos Huygens will send back from Titan if all goes well
has got me almost totally unable to sit still.

Better than Jupiter. Cassini's instruments are quite a bit
newer than Gallileo's were, and Cassini has a functioning
high gain antenna. Some of the stuff that Gallileo was
supposed to do but didn't, much, we'll see for the first
time with Cassini. Some of the neater aspects of that
will be plenty of high-resolution movies of atmospheric
changes on Saturn and Titan.

The thing I'm _really_ drooling over is the descent and surface images
expected from Huygens, not just from their scientific importance, but from
the sheer beauty of them. The views from the surface of another world
where Sol or Earth is _not_ the central feature -- I'm guessing
"Saturnset" will be the prettiest thing in the sky there -- is something
that's going to be really fascinating.


Between the extended MER missions and Cassini, I can see I'm going to be
spending a lot of time "off-world" this summer.

Don't forget the X-Prize...

Damn, that's right. Let's light this candle!

--
"All over, people changing their votes,
along with their overcoats;
if Adolf Hitler flew in today,
they'd send a limousine anyway!" --the clash.
__________________________________________________ _________________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
Mike Flugennock's Mikey'zine, dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

Mike Flugennock wrote:


The thing I'm _really_ drooling over is the descent and surface images
expected from Huygens, not just from their scientific importance, but from
the sheer beauty of them. The views from the surface of another world
where Sol or Earth is _not_ the central feature -- I'm guessing
"Saturnset" will be the prettiest thing in the sky there -- is something
that's going to be really fascinating.

Unfortunately, Huygens can't deliver this, even if it were possible. Battery
powered only, and it's signal is relayed from orbiter passing overhead very
quickly. We'll be lucky if it survives impact at all, and if it does we'll only
get an hour or two of life.

It's also likely to have the sky obscured by thick atmosphere anyway.

Hopefully, it will deliver a LOT of great sience on the way down,
even if it misses delivering the "eye candy".

Some are speculating a splashdown in a methane ocean. Surprisingly, it
actually sounds like Huygens would survive this! Now that would
be pretty cool.

"Everyone" wrote in message ...
Mike Flugennock wrote:
Some are speculating a splashdown in a methane ocean. Surprisingly, it
actually sounds like Huygens would survive this! Now that would
be pretty cool.

Would it float, even for a little while? Or if it doesn't, would it work
under the surface on its way to oblivion?

In article ,
says...

"Everyone" wrote in message ...
Mike Flugennock wrote:
Some are speculating a splashdown in a methane ocean. Surprisingly, it
actually sounds like Huygens would survive this! Now that would
be pretty cool.

Would it float, even for a little while? Or if it doesn't, would it work
under the surface on its way to oblivion?

Yes, Huygens is designed to float if it splashes down in a methane
ocean. It's also designed to operate after landing on a surface up to
the hardness of rock.

Doug

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 01:54:49 GMT, Everyone wrote:

Unfortunately, Huygens can't deliver this, even if it were possible. Battery
powered only, and it's signal is relayed from orbiter passing overhead very
quickly. We'll be lucky if it survives impact at all, and if it does we'll only
get an hour or two of life.

....Which begs the question: Does Huygens have a camera on board, or
did they simply not bother in this case?

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

OM wrote:
On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 01:54:49 GMT, Everyone wrote:


Unfortunately, Huygens can't deliver this, even if it were possible. Battery
powered only, and it's signal is relayed from orbiter passing overhead very
quickly. We'll be lucky if it survives impact at all, and if it does we'll only
get an hour or two of life.


...Which begs the question: Does Huygens have a camera on board, or
did they simply not bother in this case?
It has two or three cameras (downlooking, sideways) and even has a small
floodlight to illuminate the landing are on the last meters to get a
good picture under the poor lighting conditions on Titan's surface.

In article ,
OM om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy_NASA_researc h_facility.org wrote:
...Which begs the question: Does Huygens have a camera on board...

There is a camera. It's primarily an atmosphere instrument -- Huygens is
primarily an atmosphere probe, not a lander -- but it should get some
surface pictures during descent, and maybe even some from the surface.

The landing is iffy, but if nothing goes too badly wrong, Huygens should
survive it and operate on the surface briefly. One thing to cross your
fingers about, by the way, is that Cassini will lose Huygens's signal if
Huygens ends up sitting at too much of a tilt.
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |

In article ,
om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy... _facility.org says...
On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 01:54:49 GMT, Everyone wrote:

Unfortunately, Huygens can't deliver this, even if it were possible. Battery
powered only, and it's signal is relayed from orbiter passing overhead very
quickly. We'll be lucky if it survives impact at all, and if it does we'll only
get an hour or two of life.

...Which begs the question: Does Huygens have a camera on board, or
did they simply not bother in this case?

Two cameras, IIRC -- one that points straight down and one that points
toward the horizon. It even has a spotlight that will shine down onto
the surface as Huygens approaches, so that we will get some amount of an
image even if the weak Saturnian sunlight doesn't penetrate the clouds
very well.

The side-facing camera is designed to be able to continue to relay
images after landing -- assuming Huygens survives landing. But from
what I've read, its designers believe that it will survive either a
landing on ice or rock OR a splashdown into a methane ocean.

Doug

Everyone wrote:
Mike Flugennock wrote:


The thing I'm _really_ drooling over is the descent and surface images
expected from Huygens, not just from their scientific importance, but from
the sheer beauty of them. The views from the surface of another world
where Sol or Earth is _not_ the central feature -- I'm guessing
"Saturnset" will be the prettiest thing in the sky there -- is something
that's going to be really fascinating.


Unfortunately, Huygens can't deliver this, even if it were possible. Battery
powered only, and it's signal is relayed from orbiter passing overhead very
quickly. We'll be lucky if it survives impact at all, and if it does we'll only
get an hour or two of life.

It's also likely to have the sky obscured by thick atmosphere anyway.

Hopefully, it will deliver a LOT of great sience on the way down,
even if it misses delivering the "eye candy".

Some are speculating a splashdown in a methane ocean. Surprisingly, it
actually sounds like Huygens would survive this! Now that would
be pretty cool.

The Huygens design includes the capability to float in a hydrocarbon ocean.