MannyIsGod
01-14-2005, 04:59 PM
This is awesome stuff. Life on titan is a real possiblity, and successfully landing there is awesome.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/14/huygens.titan/index.html
Images reveal Titan's secrets
Huygens makes successful landing on Saturn moon
By Michael Coren
CNN
Friday, January 14, 2005 Posted: 4:52 PM EST (2152 GMT)
(CNN) -- The first image from the surface of Saturn's largest moon Titan shows a rock-strewn plain stretching toward a distant horizon in pictures released by NASA.
The only picture released by the ESA shows the moon, from high altitude, with what appear to be drainage channels and a shoreline.
Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general for the European Space Agency, declared the image "magnifique."
Scientists at ESA mission control stared in rapt attention, some crying and applauding, as Titan was displayed on the screens.
For unknown reasons, NASA, which operates Cassini, the satellite kibitzing Saturn that relayed Huygens' signal, removed the images 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.
ESA's aerial image, a gray low-resolution picture, was snapped 16 km above the surface of the moon. It resolves features, some as small as 40 m across, such as dark winding stream beds.
"The drainage channels are not like rivers on Earth, but maybe box canyons with seepage ... flowing down to what looks very much like a shoreline," said Martin Tomasko, lead scientist for the probe's only optical instrument. "We predicted [this] ... but we've never been able to see this with any clarity."
The geologic features were likely carved by a flowing liquid, but not water. Liquid hydrocarbons, such as methane or ethane, are believed to cover at least part of Titan's surface. Temperatures on the icy moon hover around - 292 degrees F (180 C) and would immediately freeze any liquid water.
Scientists said at least 350 more images were being processed and better quality pictures were expected.
Huygens' first packet of data from Titan was successfully transmitted this morning causing. Scientists at the European Space Agency's operations center in Germany to erupt in applause.
"We are the first visitors to Titan and the scientific data we are collecting now shall unveil the secrets of this new world," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general for ESA, in Darmstadt, Germany.
He called it a fantastic success for Europe and the spirit of international collaboration that brought together 19 nations, including the United States for the Cassini-Huygens mission.
Huygens' batteries -- designed to last just a few minutes after touchdown -- continued to power the probe's transmitter for more than two hours after landing. The data is now streaming to Earth, via the satellite Cassini, as a worldwide network of radio telescopes captures it.
Eager scientists, some who have dedicated 25 years to the project, are poring over the data, translating ones and zeros into images and measurements of the moon's atmosphere. The first pictures of Titan's surface will be released by ESA about 2:45 ET.
"This data is for posterity," said David Southwood, director of science for ESA. "It's for mankind....Scientists are going to argue as we piece together our place in the universe, of how we came to be. It's just the beginning for our science teams."
Earlier in the day, radio telescopes confirmed the probe survived reentry, successfully deployed its three parachutes and landed on the moon's icy surface. Cassini received information until it passed beyond the moon's horizon and out of contact. Now Cassini has turned toward Earth and is sending the data to scientists.
They hope all the data will survive transmission uncorrupted, said Bob Mitchell, program manager for the Cassini-Huygens mission at NASA.
Huygens reached the surface of Saturn's largest moon on Friday around 7:45 ET.
"We have a signal. We know that Huygens is alive meaning the dream is alive," said Dordain of ESA. "This is already an engineering success and we will see, later this afternoon, if this is a scientific success."
The saucer-shaped probe has completed the final hours of its 2.2 billion-mile mission to Titan, an enormous moon larger than the planet Pluto.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is an unprecedented $3.3-billion effort between NASA, the European Space Agency, which designed the probe, and Italy's space program to study Saturn and its 33 known moons. The two vehicles were launched together from Florida in 1997.
"The mission is to explore the entire Saturnian system in considerably greater detail than we have ever been able to do before: the atmosphere, the internal structure, the satellites, the rings, the magnetosphere," said Cassini program manager Bob Mitchell at NASA.
The Huygens probe, about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, spun silently toward Titan after it detached from the Cassini spacecraft on December 24. Cassini will remain in orbit around Saturn until at least July 2008.
The mission "will probably help answer some of the big questions that NASA has in general about origins and where we came from and where life came from," Mitchell said.
Titan's atmosphere, a murky mix of nitrogen, methane and argon, resembles Earth's more than 3.8 billion years ago. Scientists think the moon may shed light on how life began.
Finding living organisms, however, is a remote possibility. "It is not out of the question, but it is certainly not the first place I would look," Hansen said. "It's really very cold." A lack of sunlight has put Titan into a deep-freeze. Temperatures hover around -292 F (-180 C) making liquid water scarce and hindering chemical reactions needed for organic life.
New discoveries
The mysteries of Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, have always enticed researchers. Scientists are perplexed why Saturn, a gas-giant composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, releases more energy than it absorbs from faint sunlight. Titan is also the only moon in the solar system to retain a substantial atmosphere, one even thicker than Earth's.
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 km) 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.
Three rotating cameras took panoramic views of the moon and a radar altimeter mapped Titan's topography. A special lamp illuminated the probe's landing spot to help determine the surface composition.
Cassini crossed Saturn's rings without mishap in June 2004 and produced the most revealing photos yet of the rings and massive gas-giant. A problem with the design of an antennae on Cassini almost scrapped Huygens' mission, but engineers altered the spacecrafts' flight plans to resolve the transmission problem.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/14/huygens.titan/index.html
Images reveal Titan's secrets
Huygens makes successful landing on Saturn moon
By Michael Coren
CNN
Friday, January 14, 2005 Posted: 4:52 PM EST (2152 GMT)
(CNN) -- The first image from the surface of Saturn's largest moon Titan shows a rock-strewn plain stretching toward a distant horizon in pictures released by NASA.
The only picture released by the ESA shows the moon, from high altitude, with what appear to be drainage channels and a shoreline.
Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general for the European Space Agency, declared the image "magnifique."
Scientists at ESA mission control stared in rapt attention, some crying and applauding, as Titan was displayed on the screens.
For unknown reasons, NASA, which operates Cassini, the satellite kibitzing Saturn that relayed Huygens' signal, removed the images 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.
ESA's aerial image, a gray low-resolution picture, was snapped 16 km above the surface of the moon. It resolves features, some as small as 40 m across, such as dark winding stream beds.
"The drainage channels are not like rivers on Earth, but maybe box canyons with seepage ... flowing down to what looks very much like a shoreline," said Martin Tomasko, lead scientist for the probe's only optical instrument. "We predicted [this] ... but we've never been able to see this with any clarity."
The geologic features were likely carved by a flowing liquid, but not water. Liquid hydrocarbons, such as methane or ethane, are believed to cover at least part of Titan's surface. Temperatures on the icy moon hover around - 292 degrees F (180 C) and would immediately freeze any liquid water.
Scientists said at least 350 more images were being processed and better quality pictures were expected.
Huygens' first packet of data from Titan was successfully transmitted this morning causing. Scientists at the European Space Agency's operations center in Germany to erupt in applause.
"We are the first visitors to Titan and the scientific data we are collecting now shall unveil the secrets of this new world," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general for ESA, in Darmstadt, Germany.
He called it a fantastic success for Europe and the spirit of international collaboration that brought together 19 nations, including the United States for the Cassini-Huygens mission.
Huygens' batteries -- designed to last just a few minutes after touchdown -- continued to power the probe's transmitter for more than two hours after landing. The data is now streaming to Earth, via the satellite Cassini, as a worldwide network of radio telescopes captures it.
Eager scientists, some who have dedicated 25 years to the project, are poring over the data, translating ones and zeros into images and measurements of the moon's atmosphere. The first pictures of Titan's surface will be released by ESA about 2:45 ET.
"This data is for posterity," said David Southwood, director of science for ESA. "It's for mankind....Scientists are going to argue as we piece together our place in the universe, of how we came to be. It's just the beginning for our science teams."
Earlier in the day, radio telescopes confirmed the probe survived reentry, successfully deployed its three parachutes and landed on the moon's icy surface. Cassini received information until it passed beyond the moon's horizon and out of contact. Now Cassini has turned toward Earth and is sending the data to scientists.
They hope all the data will survive transmission uncorrupted, said Bob Mitchell, program manager for the Cassini-Huygens mission at NASA.
Huygens reached the surface of Saturn's largest moon on Friday around 7:45 ET.
"We have a signal. We know that Huygens is alive meaning the dream is alive," said Dordain of ESA. "This is already an engineering success and we will see, later this afternoon, if this is a scientific success."
The saucer-shaped probe has completed the final hours of its 2.2 billion-mile mission to Titan, an enormous moon larger than the planet Pluto.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is an unprecedented $3.3-billion effort between NASA, the European Space Agency, which designed the probe, and Italy's space program to study Saturn and its 33 known moons. The two vehicles were launched together from Florida in 1997.
"The mission is to explore the entire Saturnian system in considerably greater detail than we have ever been able to do before: the atmosphere, the internal structure, the satellites, the rings, the magnetosphere," said Cassini program manager Bob Mitchell at NASA.
The Huygens probe, about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, spun silently toward Titan after it detached from the Cassini spacecraft on December 24. Cassini will remain in orbit around Saturn until at least July 2008.
The mission "will probably help answer some of the big questions that NASA has in general about origins and where we came from and where life came from," Mitchell said.
Titan's atmosphere, a murky mix of nitrogen, methane and argon, resembles Earth's more than 3.8 billion years ago. Scientists think the moon may shed light on how life began.
Finding living organisms, however, is a remote possibility. "It is not out of the question, but it is certainly not the first place I would look," Hansen said. "It's really very cold." A lack of sunlight has put Titan into a deep-freeze. Temperatures hover around -292 F (-180 C) making liquid water scarce and hindering chemical reactions needed for organic life.
New discoveries
The mysteries of Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, have always enticed researchers. Scientists are perplexed why Saturn, a gas-giant composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, releases more energy than it absorbs from faint sunlight. Titan is also the only moon in the solar system to retain a substantial atmosphere, one even thicker than Earth's.
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 km) 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.
Three rotating cameras took panoramic views of the moon and a radar altimeter mapped Titan's topography. A special lamp illuminated the probe's landing spot to help determine the surface composition.
Cassini crossed Saturn's rings without mishap in June 2004 and produced the most revealing photos yet of the rings and massive gas-giant. A problem with the design of an antennae on Cassini almost scrapped Huygens' mission, but engineers altered the spacecrafts' flight plans to resolve the transmission problem.