Cassini-Huygens *2* - ...more Saturn/Titan...

remcook · 2005-01-13 16:02:53

rik, wow!
I don't think there's any media coverage here in holland, although we can recieve belgian tv of course...
but it will definately make the news tomorrow, whatever the success.

Rxke · 2005-01-13 16:36:16

(A bit later...) Great documentary, it blew me away, those camera's are promising! If all goes well, we will be in for a biiig surprize, boy oh boy, they showed testruns on Earth and the results will be stunning, initially, it will be a bunch of pictures, but the cmera's are set up in a way to make it possible, through computer-stitching etc. to make a 'complete' rollercoaster ride film!

Also, they showed the rings through spectroscopic eyes, not sure I'd seen that before, awesome stuff: outer rings much purer, hene younger than inner ones...

And the way these scientists talk about possible life... Reminded me of Shaun's paradigm you hear shifting, heehee!
Ever since Spirit and Opportunity landed, seems like the hunt for life around our solar-system is no longer a taboo.

Fingers crossed, go Huygens, GO!

BTW Cindy, I just jump in and out lately, expensive dialup connection, should be better somewhere next week, hopefully again on broadband... I miss NewMars sooo much...

GraemeSkinner · 2005-01-13 23:05:57

4 hours to go! Just wish I could have a descent party :band:

The good news about all the media coverage is that we'll get to see it on TV when the first results are in.

I feels like christmas all over again

Graeme

thrawn20 · 2005-01-14 01:25:19

I cannot wait..GO HUYGENS GO!!!

I dotn want to dampen any spirits but.

The only problem with all this is the chances of success arent the greatest. WE may not even get a view of Titans surface. The battery on the Huygens will only last 3 hours. Thats it. After that its toast. Im kinda peeved off they could just put an RTG onboard like the viking so it would of lasted longer. But owell. Anyway lets hope for the best. Lets hope those parachutes deploy and lets hope this thing doesnt slide down a cliff or anything. Go Huygens!!! The little Saucer that could!

My prediction is ALOT of raw data. But unfortunately the images taken by the huygens will resemble that of Soviet Venera probes that went to venus...Hazy, Smoggy, and little detail. But we will see.

As im writing this its very near the planet

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-01-14 06:06:15

That's great news about the Cassini deflection manoeuvre. :up:
And Titan's flattened North Pole .. hmm .. fascinatinger and fascinatinger!!
What a year we've had!

Everything looks very good it has done great

but will the probe make it or will it fail like a Beagle and Genesis ?

Here we go for Titan it's all happening now !!

QUOTE
The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia, USA, a part of the global network of radio telescopes involved in tracking the Huygens Titan probe, has detected the probe's 'carrier' (tone) signal.
The detection occurred between 11:20 and 11:25 CET, shortly after the probe began its parachute descent through Titan's atmosphere. The extremely feeble signal was first picked up by the Radio Science Receiver supplied by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This signal is an important indication that the Huygens probe is 'alive'. However, it does not contain yet any substance; the latter is expected to come a few hours later via the Cassini spacecraft.
What the Green Bank radio telescope has detected is only a ‘carrier’ signal. It indicates that the back cover of Huygens must have been ejected, the main parachute must have been deployed and that the probe has begun to transmit, in other words, the probe is ‘alive’. This, however, still does not mean that any data have been acquired, nor that they have been received by Cassini. The carrier signal is sent continuously throughout the descent and as such does not contain any scientific data. It is similar to the tone signal heard in a telephone handset once the latter is picked up.

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/]http://www … /SPECIALS/

QUOTE

Mission managers for the European Space Agency's Huygens probe said the spacecraft is on course for its descent to Saturn's mysterious moon Titan on Friday, Jan. 14. The probe, which detached from NASA's Cassini orbiter last month, will be the first object to explore on-site the unique environment of Titan, whose chemistry is thought to be very similar to that of early Earth, before life formed. The data gathered during the probe's 2 1/2 hour descent through Titan's atmosphere will be transmitted from the probe to the Cassini orbiter and then back to Earth.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ...402.jpg

Let's hope the Cassini-Huygens lander can make it with a good landing
A news conference is coming up at 1230 GMT (7:30 a.m. EST). Cassini will resume communications with Earth about three hours later, and the data playback will continue for several hours.

You don't witness a first soft landing on a celestial body very often. So far there were only four. Three were Russian: first Moon landing, first Mars landing and first Venus landing; and one American: first landing on asteroid Eros. Huygens will be fifth "first" -- and first European one.

1157 UTC (6:57 am EST) - Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer begins sampling atmosphere (about 67 minutes ago, Titan time)
This is the last of Huygens's instruments to be activated fully. The descent is expected to take 137 minutes in total, plus or minus 15 minutes. Throughout its descent, the spacecraft will continue to spin at a rate of between 1 and 20 rotations per minute, allowing the camera and other instruments to see the entire panorama around the descending spacecraft.

This could be very good

Palomar · 2005-01-14 07:05:18

:band: Huygens successful so far! :band:

"It has entered the atmosphere, and entered it correctly," Lo Verda said. "We know the batteries are switched on, the parachute has deployed and it has slowed down sufficiently."
Mission officials — who have waited seven years for Huygens to reach its destination — had tears in their eyes as the first signal was picked up, indicating that the probe had successfully powered up dormant systems and begun transmitting to its mother ship, the international Cassini spacecraft.

*YAY!!

That's from http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … turn]Yahoo! news. :up:

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-01-14 07:35:35

Fingers crossed, go Huygens, GO!
BTW Cindy, I just jump in and out lately, expensive dialup connection, should be better somewhere next week, hopefully again on broadband... I miss NewMars sooo much...

*Hi again Rik: Yes, I remember you mentioning recently not being able to visit as often because of that expensive dial-up connection. We miss you too, so hopefully your circumstances will change for the better SOON.

*Hi YL Rocket. Thanks for the information in your post.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/cassini/s … ml]Mission Status Center <--- All the updates!

A radio telescope on Earth has detected a faint signal from the descending Huygens spacecraft, confirming the probe is alive, has survived its super-hot entry into the atmosphere and should be carrying out its scientific exploration on the way to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.

(But geez -- there's only 2 people currently at New Mars. What gives?? Usually this time of morning there's at least a dozen folks milling about...)

--Cindy

::EDIT::

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2005
1332 GMT (8:32 a.m. EST)
Mission controllers say the tone from Huygens is still being received! The craft appears to have landed around 1245 or 1246 GMT (7:45 or 7:46 a.m. EST) on Titan and continues to operate from the moon's surface.

:band: :up:

Josh Cryer · 2005-01-14 07:38:45

:up:

Just had to say. WOOHOO! I'm so FREAKING excited about the images that should soon be gracing our television sets and computer screens!! Too bad I must work.

Okay. Bye. :;):

:band:

SpaceNut · 2005-01-14 08:18:01

Yes I'm here just awaiting for images as well. :band:

Palomar · 2005-01-14 08:30:02

Yes I'm here just awaiting for images as well. :band:

*Shouldn't be too long now, hopefully!

YES!! --

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2005
1403 GMT (9:03 a.m. EST)
Huygens remains alive and sending its beeping signal from the surface -- more than an hour after controllers calculate it landed. The relay of science data to Cassini concludes later this hour as the orbiter goes over the horizon from the landing site.
The first science information is expected on Earth about two hours from now.

More than an hour after landing! Yay!

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-01-14 08:51:48

European Space Agency Cassini-Huygens home page and the Nasa page only have the atmosphere of Titan entry information, nothing new on these sites.

DannyITR · 2005-01-14 09:27:46

Huygens wallpaper (good stuff)

Huygens wallpaper:

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-01-14 09:44:13

As for Huygens, yep...not long now. Like everyone else, I'm hoping it performs flawlessly and gets that 130 minutes on-surface (or afloat) which they're predicting is possible.
--Cindy
I can hardly type with all my fingers crossed like this! And as for walking - have you ever tried it with your toes crossed?!

Great job !!

8:35 a.m. EST: Huygens mission controllers report that the probe landed somewhere between 1:45 p.m. and 1:46 p.m. local time in Darmstadt, Germany (CET) , that's somewhere between 7:45 a.m. and 7:46 a.m. EST.

18 Images
from the surface of the alien world Titan to be sent out Soon

ESA Commentary Presentation
2:45 East Coast USA
so watch your TV at 8 o'clock in Europe to get the latest images

10:15 a.m. EST: Huygens is still pounding out a signal to the surprise of ESA engineers, but any science data it is currently transmitting is falling on deaf ears.
The Cassini orbiter, Huygens' only connection to Earth, has turned away from the probe and is preparing to relay the probe's data home, mission controllers said.
“The probe has been living for more than five hours,” said Huygens mission manager Jean-Pierre Lebreton. “But we knew at a certain time Cassini would have to stop recording.”
space dot com

very good

:band:

images coming soon

:up:

SpaceNut · 2005-01-14 12:06:52

Time table of events on this page

C M Edwards · 2005-01-14 12:19:59

"We know that it has landed based on the laws of gravity," Southwood said. "It simply cannot still be flying. It's got to be on a solid surface, and it must be soft."

Is the ESA science director referring to the landing or the surface?

Perhaps Huygens has landed in a bush... :;):

Palomar · 2005-01-14 12:22:04

*A bit of trouble, hopefully nothing major:

1706 GMT (12:06 p.m. EST)
Engineers says the Channel A and Channel B data paths from Huygens are redundant with the exception that Channel A is needed for the Doppler wind experiment with the Cassini orbiter. The Channel A telemetry stream isn't working as expected, but Channel B appears normal, ESA says.

-and-

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2005
1800 GMT (1:00 p.m. EST)
Robert Mitchell, NASA's Cassini program manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., says the loss of one telemetry stream from the Huygens Titan probe appears to be the result of an actual problem of some sort on board the spacecraft.

*Got that information from the link in my signature line; that site will also be posting pictures as soon as they are released -- possibly around 2:45 p.m. EST.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-01-14 12:34:35

Huygens' descent to Titan journal

Indicates that the probe has taken about 147 minutes to reach the surface and that it was a little longer than expected.
Also your info on the electronics is contained in the write up as well. Only 30 minutes of transmitted data before the probe would have needed to turn is indicated.

I guess it will take a few more orbits to get something meaningful from the lander.

Almir · 2005-01-14 13:20:15

Another link:

The Planetary Society's Huygens Weblog:
http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/huyg … _blog.html

Euler · 2005-01-14 14:05:07

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2005
1956 GMT (2:56 p.m. EST)
The first image shows what appear to be drainage channels flowing to a possible shoreline, the camera's scientist. The pictures are raw and unprocessed.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/cassini/0 … html]First picture

thrawn20 · 2005-01-14 14:10:14

looks like water/methane flow

That would be cool if an alien like on aliens was spotted via cam attacking the probe on the surface. It looks like its that kinda planet. Dark, windy and methane.

Palomar · 2005-01-14 14:20:40

*Damn it :realllymad: The link to the first photo won't open for me. Neither through Euler's post nor at the spaceflightnow.com web site, and I'm trying to locate it elsewhere.

It is visible at the home page of spaceflightnow.com, but is so small. :bars2: Will keep trying.

In the meantime: !--When this thread reaches 250 posts or thereabouts, someone create the next one--! -- whomever is posting around that point; you, me, whomever (Cassini-Huygens *3*). THANKS.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-01-14 14:29:30

Something like this one I hope:

Probe spots alien rivers on Saturn moon
Huygens sends pictures back from mysterious Titan

050114_titan2_hlg_12p.hlarge.jpg

Caption:
This image of Titan's surface was taken from a distance of 10 miles (16 kilometers), as the Huygens probe descended toward landing.

REB · 2005-01-14 14:30:09

Yep, looks like river channels. I could barley make out channels in those flyby pictures and I thought I was seeing shorelines. With these higher resolution pictures, it certainly looks like river channels and shorelines.

I think I mentioned it before, early in his thread, that the head waters (Source of the liquid methane, might be the polar thunderstorms.

Anyway, it appears that there is a liquid cycle going on on Titan, and that makes it a very interesting place.

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-01-14 14:31:15

These Pictures are Unreal

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huy … Y3E_0.html

Surf's up Dudes !!

http://img129.exs.cx/img129/7888/titanc … 4vx.th.jpg

:band:

if only the boat were real

Palomar · 2005-01-14 14:32:41

*THANK YOU, SPACENUT!!!

--Cindy

P.S.: From that perspective, it looks a bit like an elephant's hide. :laugh: Hmmmmm...yep, looks like a shoreline all right. Fabulous!!

-------------

::EDIT:: The first photo in YL Rocket's post above this one... That is AWESOME. Looks like big, smooth rocks in a shallow bed of water. :up: I am at a loss for words!

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