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Cassini's Robot Lab Successfully Separates

Posted by timothy on from the amicable-divorce dept.

toomanyairmiles writes "The BBC has an article indicating NASA's Cassini probe has successfully launched its robot lab on its three-week journey into the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. 'Such is the chemistry and temperature (-180C) on Titan that scientists suspect it may harbour lakes, even great seas, of methane or ethane.' Seemingly we have very little idea of what we'll find there: 'Even Cassini's remarkable instruments have struggled to get at the facts. Scientists can see dark and bright regions on the surface, but quite what they represent no one is really sure.'"

94 comments

  1. Ass-ini probe successfully separates by Bring+back+the+old+t · · Score: -1, Troll

    I flushed it down.

  2. Merry Christmas by jnguy · · Score: -1

    Merry Christmas NASA?

    1. Re:Merry Christmas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Notice they time these things on low news days. It's not just a freak cooincidence. There's lots of money at stake here and NASA and the ESA are reluctant to use regular press days for these types of things.

    2. Re:Merry Christmas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      modded you off-topic for the stupid fucking i-pod advertisement. seriously, go get a job.

      every chance i get i'll be modding your posts -1 until you get rid of the sig.

      we got deathstar.

  3. Black and white by karvind · · Score: 1, Funny
    "Scientists can see dark and bright regions on the surface, but quite what they represent no one is really sure"

    What .. they are still using B&W television over there.

    1. Re:Black and white by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      What .. they are still using B&W television over there.

      When there's only one wavelength that gets through the haze and back... yeah.

    2. Re:Black and white by Science · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes, they use B&W cameras. Astronomers are interested in detail first color second. Color cameras don't have the resolution of B&W. Color images are created by taking three idential B&W images through three different color filters. When combined and processed, the three B&W images produce a color image.

  4. Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Maybe on another world people like this don't have to go on eBay to get laid!

    1. Re:Great! by Ann+Elk · · Score: 1

      Hmm... Under "Services Available", the page lists "Seller's Standard Rate". The mind boggles.

    2. Re:Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm, he's 17 years old. First eBay is in trouble for child pornography, now they're prostituting children? Won't somebody please think of the children! ;-)

    3. Re:Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never mind eBay, this lad's biggest trouble is a poor grasp of reality; he thinks IT is a better career choice than law or medecine. Then again, he talks about being free, I guess FREE as in UNEMPLOYED.

    4. Re:Great! by Zerth · · Score: 2, Funny

      Somewhere, there is a scraggle-toothed man saying "That thar's cheap for such a purty fella!"

    5. Re:Great! by BLAG-blast · · Score: 1
      Maybe on another world people like this[ebay.com] don't have to go on eBay to get laid!

      Note that the people who are bidding on him also bid on Gmail.com invites. I'm not sure which is more sad, probably bidding on Gmail invites.

      --
      M0571y H@rml355.
  5. Huygens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Anyone know why they named it Huygens? Is there a significance to that?

    1. Re:Huygens by spiny · · Score: 4, Informative

      http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathemati cians/Huygens.html

      --

      Fry: heh, Yakov Smirnoff said it
      Leela: No he didn't.
  6. i know by Striker770S · · Score: 0

    even great seas, of methane so now the joke in NASA will be 'who ripped one on titan'

    --
    I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. - Catcher in the Rye
    1. Re:i know by mordors9 · · Score: -1, Redundant

      I hope the robots don't try to light one up... we might see it from here.

    2. Re:i know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      you'd need oxygen for the reaction you're expecting.

  7. Sploosh by Faust7 · · Score: 2, Funny

    there is every possibility that Huygens will make a splashdown

    And, if the BBC's pic is correct, it will look almost exactly like an upended Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
    1. Re:Sploosh by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      Maybe thats what they actually use.

      You know, for its ability to withstand immersion in oils and fats...?

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  8. I Wanna See Rain! by Haydn+Fenton · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I can remember the BBC program about Titan, or some TV show about it anyway. It was pretty fascinating stuff really, especially how rain on Titan will appear. Because the atmosphere is more methane/ethane, when the rain falls, it will be like normal rain at first because higher up in the air it will be colder and the methane/ethane will be liquid, but as it gets closer to the surface, it will turn into a gas as it warms up, so the rain will turn from liquid into a gas before it reaches the surface, and will then rise upwards. Hellish cool if you ask me. Especially if its green, I think it was on the TV show, although clearly thats just a mock up. And seas of methane and ethane will also be cool, if theyre green.. probably wont be, but hey.
    Bring on the rain!

    1. Re:I Wanna See Rain! by Sascha+J. · · Score: 1

      Indeed, the rain thingy must be really cool to see.

      I already thought of the oceans of methane and ethane... Damn, they must look so incredibly cool... It really makes you wanna take a bath in them.
      Or... well... Probably rather not.

      --
      My Blog: "sum it up - News, emotions and science"
    2. Re:I Wanna See Rain! by myowntrueself · · Score: 2, Informative

      "when the rain falls, it will be like normal rain at first because higher up in the air it will be colder and the methane/ethane will be liquid, but as it gets closer to the surface, it will turn into a gas as it warms up, so the rain will turn from liquid into a gas before it reaches the surface, and will then rise upwards."

      Actually this already happens here on Earth (only with water).

      There are desert areas (Sahara included IIRC) where sometimes it rains and the rain evaporates before it can hit the ground.

      I believe its called 'ghost rain'

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    3. Re:I Wanna See Rain! by NoseBag · · Score: 5, Informative



      In Arizona, its called Virga i.e. rain that never reaches the ground.

      Its actually quite neat to see in the distance. You can see the downpour falling, usually from under a nice dark thundercloud (uh, where else?), and then it kinda gets fuzzy and vague, and then it just....isn't. The "isn't" boundary also moves up and down slowly - due to air currents and such, I guess. Its quite peaceful to observe.

      --
      Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
    4. Re:I Wanna See Rain! by Haydn+Fenton · · Score: 1

      Cool. I'll go google it, I hope I can find a video of it. Thanks :)

    5. Re:I Wanna See Rain! by isolationism · · Score: 3, Interesting
      As I understand it, the ethane/methane "rain" will also be the size of golf balls because of the low gravity. This is only, I confess, according to Stephen Baxter's Titan which I just finished reading.

      Anyone looking for a good, very hard sci-fi read on the subject of Titan, the book is a great one. It has the added bonus of picking up more or less exactly right now, timeline-wise. It also has some rather frighteningly accurate forecasts with relation to the ... ah, U.S. political sentiment of the time. It was published in 1997.

  9. Hooray for NASA/ESA collaboration by ikewillis · · Score: 5, Informative
    For those who don't know, the Hyugens probe bound for Titan was developed by the EU's Space Agency. It will provide us with the first glimpses below Titan's cloudy surface, and was carried by NASA's Cassini probe.

    It's wonderful to see such collaboration between the ESA and NASA, and I hope we continue to see such efforts in the future.

    1. Re:Hooray for NASA/ESA collaboration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      While we're educating - the EU does not have a space agency. The European Space Agency is it's own (or it's member nations...), and not a part of the EU. A few countries who are not in the EU are in ESA (hell, even Canada is - though they're a little special :). I still find the collaboration wonderful though - the world would be a better place with some more of that...

    2. Re:Hooray for NASA/ESA collaboration by drachton · · Score: 2, Informative

      ESA page for the Cassini-Huygens mission. They have a couple of Flash animations, some nice pictures of Titan (here) and an interesting factsheet on the mission.

    3. Re:Hooray for NASA/ESA collaboration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, while we're educating, do you think it would be hard for you to grasp the difference between ITS and IT'S?? IT'S MEANS "IT IS".

    4. Re:Hooray for NASA/ESA collaboration by NoseBag · · Score: 0, Redundant

      ...and CAPS means you're shouting like a spoiled child. Why are you shouting?

      --
      Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
    5. Re:Hooray for NASA/ESA collaboration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because the first ten thousand times you see such easily avoided errors, you let it slide... After about a hundred thousand times, you start getting upset that people who speak of math and physics and programming can't be arsed to check such basic, simple stuff.

    6. Re:Hooray for NASA/ESA collaboration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bah, the UK aren't part of it though, despite the fact that we had the best rockets back in the 50s.

  10. Ever see 2010? by Faust7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Scientists can see dark and bright regions on the surface, but quite what they represent no one is really sure.

    My money's on the dark regions being a plague of multiplying monoliths. Cover your eyes...

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
    1. Re:Ever see 2010? by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      It's asphalt parking lots and bright shopping malls full of shoe shops. A different type of replicator and far more frightening. The shoe-event horizon draws nigh!

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  11. Image of the Huygens/Cassini separation by ikewillis · · Score: 4, Informative
    Here's an excellent image of the seperation of the Cassini spacecraft with the Huygens probe bound for Titan:

    http://planetary.org/saturn/images_spacecraft.html

    1. Re:Image of the Huygens/Cassini separation by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Excellent artist's interpretation of what the seperation might look like

    2. Re:Image of the Huygens/Cassini separation by deglr6328 · · Score: 1

      Actual image of huygens receding from cassini here. Or right here---> [ .]

      --
      - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
    3. Re:Image of the Huygens/Cassini separation by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      The actual photo may be more informative from a control-room standpoint, but certainly less pretty than the art versions.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  12. To clarify... by ethnocidal · · Score: 2, Informative
    Cassini-Huygens is a joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency - http://www.esa.int/. Cassini (the main vehicle) is NASA's responsibility, and the robot probe called Huygens is ESA's.

    Good to see some international cooperation in a venture like this. After the stunning shots of Titan and Saturn returned by Cassini's sensors, we can only hope that the remote probe fares better than Beagle 2 :) ESA article with more information

    1. Re:To clarify... by maelstrom · · Score: 1

      All countries involved have something to be proud on. Nice to see American and Europe working towards a common goal instead of bickering. Merry Christmas everyone!

      --
      The more you know, the less you understand.
    2. Re:To clarify... by NoseBag · · Score: 1

      I was under the impression that the Italian Space Agency was also involved....but I may be getting my missions mixed up.

      --
      Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
    3. Re:To clarify... by Surazal · · Score: 1

      You would be correct sir. Of course, the details on the extent of collaboration is hidden beyond many layers of bereaurocracy, but what the hell.

      --
      --- Journals are boring; Go to my web page instead
    4. Re:To clarify... by snake_dad · · Score: 2, Informative
      Good to see some international cooperation in a venture like this.

      If that aspect of this mission is news to you, you will probably be surprised to know that in many NASA missions there are several non-US instruments. An example that comes to mind is the Mossbauer Spectrometer on the instrument arm of the current Mars rovers. This experiment was built by a German university (IIRC). Another example of cooperation would be the tests that were done on Mars, sending data to Earth from the rovers, through the European Mars Express spacecraft. And it is the same with European spacecraft, many include American experiments.

      And if it wasn't news to you it probably was news to someone else reading this :)

      --
      karma capped .sig seeking available Slashdot poster for long-term relationship.
  13. An open door. by OgTheBarbarian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Now just imagine, however inhospitable the conditions sound to us, if that probe came back with images of a civilization or even an outpost (inhabited or abandoned/destroyed). That one piece of news would turn the whole world on its edge. Sometimes great discoveries come, when you're not really looking for them. 'If it is just us, it seems like an awful waste of space.' - Contact

    1. Re:An open door. by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

      Unless all nasa probe data is scanned by norad/fema and if that ever happens then its time for a "oopps we lost signal, it failed to deploy chutes" press release and the earth population is once again free to live as normal consuming products and working like slaves for pittence rewards.

      --
      Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
    2. Re:An open door. by adeydas · · Score: 1

      i don't think that's a very bright possibility, mainly because there is hardly any liquid water on mars. also the oxygen content is pretty low...

    3. Re:An open door. by dhasenan · · Score: 1

      It would turn popular opinion on edge. Posit the existence of life on Titan. Let's go so far as to say it's intelligent life, and that its level of technology is on a par with ours, except (presumably; we haven't seen evidence of it) no space exploration. How would that affect this planet? First, there's really no scare of invasions on either side. Titan isn't a lot like Earth; we couldn't use their land; they couldn't use ours. Not without great expenditures of money and technological advances. Where would the benefit be? Would we mine Titan for its methane, or would the Titans mine the earth for its oxygen? So. Our unmanned probes can reach Titan, and there are hypothetical people living there. How are we to recognize them as sentient beings? Presumably, by their technology, if it's recognizable--and that's hardly certain. How are we to understand their languages? If they even use speech, we have no way to learn, except by proxy. And that's not a good solution; unless we can put a person on Titan, pretty much, it'll take decades for the first portion of the task to be completed, and after that only a little bit of time until humans can become fluent in a Titan language. That's provided humans have the mental capacity to learn Titan languages. So, basically, we're faced with a bunch of people we can't understand, on a piece of worthless land, who are too far away to matter and have no interest in our resources. Nothing will turn on edge. Everything will continue much as it has.

    4. Re:An open door. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhhhh....just how old are you?

    5. Re:An open door. by 2A · · Score: 2, Funny

      Untrue. We'll immediately launch another probe with devices for detecting interplanetary WMDs, get bored waiting for it to get conclusive results, and so send bigger ships to liberate the methan^H^H^H^H^H^Htitans...

      Or maybe the TV appeals will start: "there's been life discovered on the moon, Titan. These lifeforms don't know the love and teachings of Jesus. We need you to donate money so we can build our own spaceship, so we can spread to word of Jesus to these so called 'Marklah'."

      But most likely, both will happen.

    6. Re:An open door. by NardofDoom · · Score: 1

      An outpost from an advanced civilization could survive in Martian conditions using technology that's similar to what a future Mars mission might be using. There's plenty of raw materials on Mars to make liquid water and oxygen.

      --
      You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    7. Re:An open door. by NardofDoom · · Score: 1

      That's funny... that's what they said about Native Americans. And look what happened to them once the land became useful to us.

      --
      You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
  14. waste of time by bogaboga · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    Waste of time and money! The cash involved would have gone a long way in solving the nation's problems like unemployment, disease and the general lack of direction.

    Heck...we even know very little about the seas and oceans. Under there, there is a possibility of finding a unique reptile that could have the clue to fighting AIDS.

    Because I am a small man, nobody will listen! No wonder we are falling behind, and very soon we as a nation may become less relevant in the world.

    1. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      If you want to solve the nation's problems like unemployment, disease and the general lack of direction, (a) stop giving power to entities which concentrate only on making their own profit, and (b) vote for someone that puts these goals ahead of others. If the money wasn't being spent on NASA, it would be distributed among other departments of the government, not channeled directly to health care or whatever. I personally prefer learning a little about the universe than "liberating" foreign nations or building up space weapons / missile defense.

    2. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention the NASA/EU staff that are employed and draw a salary from their work on this and related projects. Not all money sent to research/exploration projects is wasted (a common misconception). The money pays real people, real wages. They pay transportation costs, utility costs, fuel costs, etc... all filtering back into the community. The actual cost of the rocket/probe itself pales in comparison to the money folded back into the economy. Too many folks are too short-sighted to see this.

    3. Re:waste of time by cheekyboy · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Dude, get a sense of priorities, the amount of cash spent on space is so tiny, probably less than what usa spends on toilet paper ok.

      So get a damn clue you 1920s dim wit clueless jock drunk prick.

      450billion on military
      100s billions in corproate welfare
      100s of billions in farm subsidies
      100s of billions wasted in interest payments on even more horrid debt.

      The only reason why people are poor is that most people gets funneled into PROPERTY and SHARES, instead of REAL work. If this pyramid game of shares/property wasnt there and the prices were fair, then there would be billions more being spent on real investments, not another "throw millions at this 15% return fund"

      AIDS was man made so go talk to your local govt official.

      --
      Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
    4. Re:waste of time by Sascha+J. · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      lol, I've never red so much bullsh.. at once. Actually it's not even worth to be commented (Yeah, why I'm doing it then?)

      --
      My Blog: "sum it up - News, emotions and science"
    5. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Hey, I've got a "clue to fighting AIDS":

      Don't have indiscriminate sex with multiple partners.

      It works real good you should try it some time.

    6. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "...solving the nations' problems like unemployment." [spelling of nations' corrected to reflect international effort]

      like say.. having a big program that employs thousands of people from engineers to shop techs to cafeteria workers?

    7. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't that assume that slashdot readers have sex?

    8. Re:waste of time by Rakishi · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      So by not spending money on scientific endeavors you think the US will become more relevant to the world and not fall behind. What the hell are you smoking and can I have some of it. Actually wait a minute: the US/EU has high rates of unemployment and disease???? Well that's news to me. And even if they did 1 billion would have done absolutely jack shit as politicians would have simply spent it on various pet projects. Damn liberals who think that the only way to solve problems is to spend tax money on them, without thinking of any of the consequences. You know why Africa is a shit hole: because in the last 100 years it's population went up seven fold. And you know why it did that: because liberal humanitarians decided that introducing modern medicine to lower child mortality is a great idea without even looking at the potential conflicts it would cause with the social and economic infrastructure. Disease is what holds populations in check when people arte too immature to do it themselves.

    9. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      holy fuck, I've never wished cancer upon anyone as strongly as I am right now

    10. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like an WPA for engineers? Give me a break!

    11. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      I second the other guy - I really hope you get cancer.

    12. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you cancelled the space program, your going to be putting a hell of a lot of people in the unemployment line. Have you actually considered where the money for the space programme goes when it is spent, or do you believe that NASA put the billion of dollars in notes on the probe and blasts it off into space?

    13. Re:waste of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, so let me get this straight...you're suggesting that everyone should just kill themselves, to undo the "damage" caused by medicine?

    14. Re:waste of time by Rakishi · · Score: 1

      No that was an example, you can't change history however you can learn from it. I simply said that instead of throwing money at random "humanitarian" endeavors you instead see what your actions could lead to, and spend that money so that it provides the most benefit.

      For example, curing disease is all nice however if the country lacks the social infrastructure to support those changes then maybe you should work on that infrastructure instead of just dumping medicine on them.

  15. And in other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slashdot headline sucessfully mispelled.

    1. Re:And in other news by FIT_Entry1 · · Score: 1, Funny

      you misspelled "mispell".

    2. Re:And in other news by Fwongo · · Score: 1

      Actually, you "corrected" it to the wrong spelling, and meanwhile misspelled "misspell"

  16. Huygens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    That "robot lab" is called Huygens, but I guess that's too difficult for /. submitters/editors to spell.

  17. Hmmm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... scientists suspect it may harbour lakes, even great seas, of methane or ethane.

    On which planet beyond the Earth was it that scientists expected to find steamy tropical jungles not all that long ago?

    Speculation may be fun, but it's not exactly a guaranteed career-maker if you get it wrong.

    I hope this is more a case of an overly-imaginative journalist taking something out of context than the true utterances of real, bona fide scientists.

    1. Re:Hmmm. by crymeph0 · · Score: 2, Informative
      Venus is the planet which was supposed to have jungles.

      You make a valid point about over-speculating, but at least the speculation about Titan is based on the fact that the temperatures at Titan are in the right range for methane to be liquid, solid, and gas. So it's not just some dreamer's wild vision.

      I'd say there's definitely some sort of liquid action going on though, because there aren't that many impact craters from what they have been able to tell, which indicates that the surface has been recently eroded. It could be volcanism too, I guess, but I would think we'd have detected some chemical signatures of that even without being able to see the surface that clearly. Any chemists in the audience, please feel free to prove me wrong.

      --
      It should be illegal to say that freedom of speech should be limited.
  18. Demonic discovery? by Xentropy · · Score: 4, Funny

    I find the random insertion by /. of a large Doom 3 ad (consisting of a closeup of a demonic figure) right after the text of this article an amusing irony. Just what DO we expect to find down there?

    1. Re:Demonic discovery? by Artifakt · · Score: 1

      It turns out Titan is habitable, but you have to enrage the Cacodaemons so they follow you around firing lost souls at you to keep you warm.

      --
      Who is John Cabal?
    2. Re:Demonic discovery? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cacodaemons fired plasma balls... Pain Elementals were the ones that shot lost souls.

  19. happens on earth too by radon28 · · Score: 1

    This sort of process is fairly normal in places like Arizona or the far western Sahara, for example. I was pretty excited about seeing it the first time I went to Arizona, only to find out that there isn't much to see except a slightly overcast cover in the sky.

  20. English is not my native language... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you insensituve clod.

  21. NASA have picutres up of the seperation by Bhalash · · Score: 4, Interesting

    http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm/

  22. It's called HUYGENS!! by SeaDour · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Robot Lab"? WTF?!? Give some credit where it's due!

  23. nope, don't waste your time. by bani · · Score: 1

    there are no photographs there, only imaginative artist renderings of what it "might" look like.

  24. opinions by morcheeba · · Score: 4, Funny

    Even Cassini's remarkable instruments have struggled to get at the facts.

    From what I heard, the instruments were just giving their opinions, ruminations, and vague rumors. One even broke into song, which, from a scientific viewpoint, yielded very little hard data...

    --
    HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
  25. what a great time to live by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    cant want to get some pictures.. what an exciting time to be around

  26. Not enough time on the surface by PingXao · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I know there must be a zillion reasons why they designed the Huygens probe mission the way they did, but to me it seems like a pity that it's only got enough battery life to operate for 30 minutes on the surface after it lands, assuming it doesn't sink in a hydrocarbon lake. It took 7 years to get there for only 30 minutes worth of surface obserations? The results it sends back from only 30 minutes worth of surface exploration will surely raise more questions than they answer, and since this is the last of the big-ticket planetary probes we're likely to see for decades to come it just doens't seem like a long enough window to operate. Weight probably had a lot to do with the decisions made. Batteries are heavy. That plus the uncertainty as to whether it will land on solid ground at all most likely drove the 30-minute mission requirement, but it still seems too short. I must be getting spoiled by the Mars rovers.

    1. Re:Not enough time on the surface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      It will have been doing major science for over two hours by the time it lands, including taking pictures all the way down. Whatever it does on the surface is 'bonus' time. And no, if it splashes down in a lake, it will not sink. In fact, it has an instrument that will use sonar to try and determine the depth of the lake. Also, whatever it does on the surface is constrained not just by battery life, but by communications with Cassini -- which will vanish over Titan's horizon about an hour after the probe lands.

    2. Re:Not enough time on the surface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Mars Rovers are different - they rove, and to a limited extent can manipulate their environment. Therefore, the longer the trip the ideal. But this probe doesn't rove, and so there isn't so much an advantage to having a lengthy "exploration." If it's there for 1 hour or 1 year, it'll just say the same thing.

    3. Re:Not enough time on the surface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really, conditions may "change" over time even if the probe is static.

  27. MOD PARENT +eleventyb. FLASHMOB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    go to work my MONKies of doom...

  28. Made me think of this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    eBay
    by "Weird Al" Yankovic

    Yeah
    A used pink bathrobe
    A rare mint snowglobe
    A Smurf TV tray
    I bought on eBay

    My house is filled with
    This crap
    Shows up in bubble wrap
    Most every day
    What I bought on eBay

    Tell me why (I need another pet rock)
    Tell me why (I got that Alf alarm clock)
    Tell me why (I bid on Shatner's old toupee)
    They had it on eBay

    I'll buy your knick-knack
    Just check my feedback
    "A++!" they all say
    They love me on eBay

    Gonna buy (a slightly damaged golf bag)
    Gonna buy (some Beanie Babies, new with tag)
    From some guy
    I've never met in Norway
    Found him on eBay

    I am the type who is liable to snipe you
    With two seconds left to go, whoa
    Got Paypal or Visa, what ever'll please ya
    As long as I've got the dough

    I'll buy your tchotchkes
    Sell me your watch, please
    I'll buy (I'll buy)
    I'm highest bidder!

    Junk keeps arriving in the mail
    From that worldwide garage sale
    Hey, a "Dukes Of Hazzard" ashtray
    Oh yeah (I bought it on eBay)

    Wanna buy (a Pac-Man Fever lunchbox)
    Wanna buy (a case of vintage tube socks)
    Wanna buy (a Kleenex used by Dr. Dre)
    Found it on eBay

    Wanna buy (that Farrah Fawcet poster)
    Pez dispensers and a toaster
    Don't know why
    the kind of stuff you'd throw away
    I'll buy on eBay

    What I bought on eBay

  29. personal interest in its success by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope the probe does well because I have recently been informed that Titan artwork I submitted for an art contest has been selected to be part of the planned exibit after the probe's mission is done. My work is far more likely to have its day in the sun if the probe is successful than if it fails.

  30. unfortunately, doppler will ruin this. by Bram+Stolk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The cassini/huygens mission launched at 1997.
    However, in 2000 it became apparent that the
    Italians who were doing cassini-huygens comms,
    forgot to account for the doppler effect.
    This debacle would cut the comms time to only
    10% of planned communication time. NASA and ESA
    seem to remain silent about this foul up since
    then. Read more about it at
    http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/4/4137/1.htm l

    --
    Bram Stolk http://stolk.org/tlctc/
  31. fortunately, doppler has been sidestepped. by bmfs · · Score: 4, Informative

    Remain silent? There was a BBC Horizon documentary on this very subject broadcast earlier this year. You can read more about the problem and the solution here:

    http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature /oct04/1004titan.html

    And here:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon /saturn_prog_summary.shtml

    Problem: Italian Company (Alenia Spazio) responsible for comms corrected for doppler shift on the carrier signal, but not on the data rate. Alenia Spazio's insistence on confidentiality may have played a role in this oversight. NASA reviewers were never given the specs of the receiver. As JPL's [Robert] Mitchell explained, "Alenia Spazio considered JPL to be a competitor and treated the radio design as proprietary data."

    Solution: Altered the trajectory of Cassini / Huygens so that Huygens is moving parallel to Cassini during descent, sidestepping the doppler shift issue.

  32. Cassini images of Titan's surface by valdean · · Score: 2, Informative
    Wired News has some pictures of Titan's surface taken by Cassini. The article explains somewhat the new questions the images have created, and what the Huygens mission hopes to accomplish in terms of answering those questions, including this explanation for the bright/dark spots:

    Do the dark areas in the radar images of Titan's surface signify the existence of lakes?

    When radar waves are used to create images of surfaces, areas that reflect more radio waves turn up as bright spots, while those that reflect fewer waves appear as dark spots. Some scientists believe the large, dark patches in the Titan images could be lakes full of liquid ethane and propane, which would absorb radio waves. But if this is true, do the lakes have ripples and waves caused by the wind, or are they completely still?

    http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697,65533,00.ht ml

  33. niggermania.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I live in the District of Columbia, so afro-American outbursts aren''t really all that unique. Anyway, about three years ago I was walking to a club area (Adams Morgan) with a bunch of friends and we stopped to wait for a traffic light (something only white DC residents do) and we hear this guy from behind us say something like: ""wait right there, I wants to hab a word wit ya bout some business.""

    So we turn around and there is this older black crack head guy in typical ratty street clothes squatted about 10 feet away from us next to some stairs, right on the sidewalk. He is literally blowing mud all over some yuppies cement stairwell. Real geyser style diarrhea, punctuated with loud booming farts. The shit is splashing all aver the stairs and he is doing this while making eye contact with us and nodding.

    I didn''t know whether to laugh or vomit. As we are all standing there slack-jawed he pulls up his pants and starts ambulating toward us. We ran away in horror as he called us all sorts of horrible names...... mostly ""white devil"" ""racist"" the usual sobriquets.