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Huygens Probe Lands on Titan

Posted by michael on from the we-get-signal! dept.

WillDraven writes "CNN, NASA and the ESA are reporting that the Huygens space probe has entered the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan after traveling 2.2 billion miles. Pictures from the moon's surface should be available sometime this afternoon" according to the NASA TV schedule. What we know so far is that Huygens landed successfully and sent at least the carrier signal from the surface to Cassini for 90+ minutes, more than expected, and that Cassini has successfully repointed at the Earth and begun relaying the data it received, beginning with test packets. Huygens now sits on Titan, silent forever, while we wait to see whether or how much valuable data Cassini obtained and can send back. Update: 01/14 17:20 GMT by M : So far: they report zero lost packets in the transmission, but one of the two independent data-collection systems is apparently giving some problems. Update: 01/14 21:40 GMT by J : The news is pretty much all good: a very successful mission. Expect to see many photos within hours, but for now apparently only three have been released. Ice blocks or rolling stones -- let the debates begin!

2 of 686 comments (clear)

  1. Pronounce Huygens by awhoward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you want to know how to correctly pronounce Huygens, go to this web site.

  2. pins and needles by dAzED1 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Here's the log from the ESA's site. Its in UTC - so we're talkin 23 minutes ago....such a wonderful thing to look forward to

    16:20 First data received from Huygens probe

    15:26 Confirmation received that Huygens probe data was successfully communicated to the Cassini spacecraft

    15:00 First Huygens probe data expected at around 16:00
    Probe life has now been over 5 hours

    14:10 Playback of probe data begins
    Ground control confirms that a signal is still being received on Earth from the Huygens probe, suggesting its batteries lasted well beyond the minimum design limit of 2 hours 15 minutes

    13:47 Cassini Orbiter has been turned in its orbit to poin the high gain antenna towards Earth

    12:30 Confirmation given of signal tracking for at least 2 hours

    11:24 Estimated time of surface impact and end of the descent phase

    11:23 Descent lamp activated to provide ground reflectivity measurements

    11:12 Cassini spacecraft undergoes closest approach to Titan passing at an altitude of 60 000 km at a speed of 5.4 km per second

    10:30 Green Bank 110 m telescope confirms a carrier signal from the Huygens probe.
    Signal indicates that the probe has survived the entry phase and that the instrument payload is active.