Andrew Yee
January 13th 06, 03:41 PM
ESA News
http://www.esa.int
13 January 2006
The Huygens landing: one year on
One year ago this week, on 14 January 2005, ESA's Huygens probe reached
the upper layer of Titan's atmosphere and landed on the surface after a
parachute descent 2 hours and 28 minutes later.
As part of the joint NASA/ESA/ASI mission to Saturn and its moons, the
Huygens probe was sent from the Cassini spacecraft to explore Titan,
Saturn's largest moon. Titan's organic chemistry may be like that of the
primitive Earth around 4000 million years ago, and may hold clues about
how life began on our planet.
The Huygens mission
The Huygens mission has been an outstanding engineering and scientific
success, one of the most complex and scientifically rewarding space
missions to date. The touchdown on the surface of Titan marked the
farthest a man-made spacecraft has successfully landed away from Earth.
Clear images of the surface of Titan were obtained below 40 km altitude --
revealing an extraordinary world, resembling Earth in many respects,
especially in meteorology, geomorphology and fluvial activity, but with
different ingredients. The images show strong evidence for erosion due to
liquid flows, possibly methane.
Huygens enabled studies of the atmosphere and surface, including the first
in-situ sampling of the organic chemistry and the aerosols below 150 km.
These confirmed the presence of a complex organic chemistry, which
reinforces the idea that Titan is a promising place to observe the
molecules that may have been the precursors of the building blocks of life
on Earth.
Around 260 scientists and up to 10 000 engineers and other professionals
from 19 countries overcame cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary
differences to achieve an astonishing co-operation.
ESA's Huygens project scientist, Jean-Pierre Lebreton said, "This mission
took two decades to accomplish and pushed the limits of our capabilities,
whether scientific, technological or organisational. But the scientists
and engineers used their skills and intelligence to overcome technical,
political and celestial barriers to their goals.
"In the end, they triumphed spectacularly and, apart from the amazing
scientific return, the mission should be an inspiration and a lesson for
organisations of all kinds, in all sectors, of how people can work
together."
Huygens audio- and videocasts
You can also download ESA audio and video content on this topic:
* Video-on-demand (Vodcast)
http://ravel.esrin.esa.it/multimedia/esc/esaspacecastfeed.xml
* Audio (Podcast)
http://ravel.esrin.esa.it/multimedia/audio/esoc_feed.xml
* Listen now
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/audio/2006/ean014.mp3
You can listen to the Podcast with an MP3 player, or view the Vodcast
using a player such as iTunes.
Related links
* At Saturn and Titan
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html
* Huygens raw images
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/titanraw/index.htm
* Sounds of Titan
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM85Q71Y3E_index_0.html
* Anniversary video -- Huygens on Titan: one year after (MP4)
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/esc/esaspacecast001.mp4
* NASA's Cassini-Huygens site
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html
* Italian Space Agency (ASI)
http://www.asi.it
* Huygens DISR team
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~kholso/
Related articles
* Cassini-Huygens mission celebrates anniversary
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMDC26Y3EE_index_0.html
* Some Cassini-Huygens science highlights
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMRP26Y3EE_0.html
* Titan's surface seen from fly-by on 22 August 2005
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEM7S6A5QCE_0.html
* Huygens 3D animation of Titan's surface
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMO8G808BE_0.html
* Saturn's moon Phoebe in 3D
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMIBF0XDYD_0.html
* Cassini-Huygens looks at Phoebe's distant past
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMNL63VQUD_index_0.html
IMAGE CAPTIONS:
[Image 1:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVB6MZCIE_index_1.html]
An artist's interpretation of the area surrounding the Huygens landing
site based on images and data returned on 14 January 2005.
Credits: ESA
[Movie 1:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVB6MZCIE_index_1.html#subhead2]
An animated artist interpretation of the area surrounding the ESA Huygens
probe's landing site, based on images and data returned on 14 January
2005.
Credits: ESA
http://www.esa.int
13 January 2006
The Huygens landing: one year on
One year ago this week, on 14 January 2005, ESA's Huygens probe reached
the upper layer of Titan's atmosphere and landed on the surface after a
parachute descent 2 hours and 28 minutes later.
As part of the joint NASA/ESA/ASI mission to Saturn and its moons, the
Huygens probe was sent from the Cassini spacecraft to explore Titan,
Saturn's largest moon. Titan's organic chemistry may be like that of the
primitive Earth around 4000 million years ago, and may hold clues about
how life began on our planet.
The Huygens mission
The Huygens mission has been an outstanding engineering and scientific
success, one of the most complex and scientifically rewarding space
missions to date. The touchdown on the surface of Titan marked the
farthest a man-made spacecraft has successfully landed away from Earth.
Clear images of the surface of Titan were obtained below 40 km altitude --
revealing an extraordinary world, resembling Earth in many respects,
especially in meteorology, geomorphology and fluvial activity, but with
different ingredients. The images show strong evidence for erosion due to
liquid flows, possibly methane.
Huygens enabled studies of the atmosphere and surface, including the first
in-situ sampling of the organic chemistry and the aerosols below 150 km.
These confirmed the presence of a complex organic chemistry, which
reinforces the idea that Titan is a promising place to observe the
molecules that may have been the precursors of the building blocks of life
on Earth.
Around 260 scientists and up to 10 000 engineers and other professionals
from 19 countries overcame cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary
differences to achieve an astonishing co-operation.
ESA's Huygens project scientist, Jean-Pierre Lebreton said, "This mission
took two decades to accomplish and pushed the limits of our capabilities,
whether scientific, technological or organisational. But the scientists
and engineers used their skills and intelligence to overcome technical,
political and celestial barriers to their goals.
"In the end, they triumphed spectacularly and, apart from the amazing
scientific return, the mission should be an inspiration and a lesson for
organisations of all kinds, in all sectors, of how people can work
together."
Huygens audio- and videocasts
You can also download ESA audio and video content on this topic:
* Video-on-demand (Vodcast)
http://ravel.esrin.esa.it/multimedia/esc/esaspacecastfeed.xml
* Audio (Podcast)
http://ravel.esrin.esa.it/multimedia/audio/esoc_feed.xml
* Listen now
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/audio/2006/ean014.mp3
You can listen to the Podcast with an MP3 player, or view the Vodcast
using a player such as iTunes.
Related links
* At Saturn and Titan
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html
* Huygens raw images
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/titanraw/index.htm
* Sounds of Titan
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM85Q71Y3E_index_0.html
* Anniversary video -- Huygens on Titan: one year after (MP4)
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/esc/esaspacecast001.mp4
* NASA's Cassini-Huygens site
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html
* Italian Space Agency (ASI)
http://www.asi.it
* Huygens DISR team
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~kholso/
Related articles
* Cassini-Huygens mission celebrates anniversary
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMDC26Y3EE_index_0.html
* Some Cassini-Huygens science highlights
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMRP26Y3EE_0.html
* Titan's surface seen from fly-by on 22 August 2005
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEM7S6A5QCE_0.html
* Huygens 3D animation of Titan's surface
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMO8G808BE_0.html
* Saturn's moon Phoebe in 3D
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMIBF0XDYD_0.html
* Cassini-Huygens looks at Phoebe's distant past
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMNL63VQUD_index_0.html
IMAGE CAPTIONS:
[Image 1:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVB6MZCIE_index_1.html]
An artist's interpretation of the area surrounding the Huygens landing
site based on images and data returned on 14 January 2005.
Credits: ESA
[Movie 1:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVB6MZCIE_index_1.html#subhead2]
An animated artist interpretation of the area surrounding the ESA Huygens
probe's landing site, based on images and data returned on 14 January
2005.
Credits: ESA