Huygens probe lands safely on Titan.

nev_payne · 14-January-05, 04:10 PM

The robot has landed. Artists impression of the successful landing.

Joy and rapture filled ESAs mission control as the Huygens probe not only captured large ammounts of data form Titans atmosphere, but also made succesfull landing and continued to send data for 30 minutes.

Quote:


	The probe began transmitting data to Cassini four minutes into its descent and continued to transmit data after landing at least as long as Cassini was above TitanÃ‚â€™s horizon. The certainty that Huygens was alive came already at 11:25 CET today, when the Green Bank radio telescope in West Virginia, USA, picked up a faint but unmistakable radio signal from the probe. Radio telescopes on Earth continued to receive this signal well past the expected lifetime of Huygens. Huygens data, relayed by Cassini, were picked up by NASAÃ‚â€™s Deep Space Network and delivered immediately to ESAÃ‚â€™s European Space Operation Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, where the scientific analysis is currently taking place.

LINKAGE HERE to ESAs report.

j-dogg · 14-January-05, 09:27 PM

I was gonna post something on this earlier, it's a real milestone in space flight. Just a couple days ago they shot off a Delta 4 carrying the Deep Impact probe that is supposed to hit a comet with a 315-pound copper disk. Sounds like fun.

Props to ESA and NASA for this one.

nev_payne · 15-January-05, 12:05 PM

Hmm I realise this isnt a milestoning as Voyager Probes 1 and 2, but the fact that the only probes that have successfully landed on planets have got as far as Mars, its one hell of a leep. That far out, You rely souldy on the robotics you gave the probe to land/ or control itself properly...controling it is not an option - would take weeks to get the signal through to the probe.

14-January-05, 09:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
j-dogg Mystical Schwinn Guru Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: West Melbourne, Fl-HOE-rida Posts: 8,822	I was gonna post something on this earlier, it's a real milestone in space flight. Just a couple days ago they shot off a Delta 4 carrying the Deep Impact probe that is supposed to hit a comet with a 315-pound copper disk. Sounds like fun. Props to ESA and NASA for this one. __________________

15-January-05, 12:05 PM	#3 (permalink)
nev_payne Apex Tech God Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Somerset, England UK........ News Threads: 8,143 Posts: 4,085	Hmm I realise this isnt a milestoning as Voyager Probes 1 and 2, but the fact that the only probes that have successfully landed on planets have got as far as Mars, its one hell of a leep. That far out, You rely souldy on the robotics you gave the probe to land/ or control itself properly...controling it is not an option - would take weeks to get the signal through to the probe. __________________ You have reached Nev's Voicemail. Please leave a message in the PM. Thank-you.

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