Probe Sends Pictures Of Titan
The international Cassini-Huygens space mission to Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is officially a success. Scientists got their first image from the Huygens probe Friday afternoon.
Source: Wired
Congratulations to the European Space Agency. -KFAfter traveling through more than 2 billion miles of space, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe reached its final destination early Friday. It successfully navigated Titan's murky atmosphere and touched down on the moon's surface after a descent that took more than two hours.
As it fell, the probe snapped at least 350 photos and collected data about the mysterious moon's thick atmosphere. Space scientists are giddy that their work has resulted in success.
"The morning was good; the afternoon is better," said European Space Agency director general Jean-Jacques Dordain during a press conference Friday. "This morning we had an engineering success, and we can say this afternoon that we have also a scientific success."
One of Huygens' first photographs appeared to have been taken from many miles overhead as the probe landed. It shows meandering, river-like patterns and an uneven shoreline. Another photo shows what looks like a desolate, flat landscape scattered with rocks.
Source: Wired
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Comments
I'm wondering, do these probes have any kind of sensors active while in travel? Maybe to detect anomolies along the way, such as UFO's? Just wondering....
BTW, one of the most convenient sources for information about our current space exploits is at http://planetarysociety.org .
-drasnor
I wondering like some kind of space sonar sensor that could be powered by solar panels. Detecting unconventional movement patterns that would rule out any kind of meteor or normal space debris. Is interesting, it would have to have some range too.
-drasnor
Like ants under a magnifying lens....
uh oh....ever seen Starship Troopers
Photo credits: ESA/NASA/University of Arizona, hosted by planetarysociety.org
Surf Titan anyone? It's a raw image, so they don't know exactly what everything is. In case anyone's been out of the loop, scientists have speculated since the Voyager probe flyby in the 70's that Titan has methane in all three phases (solid, liquid, gas) similar to how we have water here.
They have a recording of what the wind sounds like there. You can find it here
-drasnor
Anybody got a light?