Huygens lands on Titan
Posted: Fri, Jan 14, 2005, 1:54 PM ET (1854 GMT)
ESA's Huygens spacecraft has successfully landed on the surface of Titan, project officials said Friday. The probe, which detached from the Cassini spacecraft December 25, entered Titan's upper atmosphere 5:13 am EST (1013 GMT), landing on the surface at about 7:34 am EST (1234 GMT), based on a planned timeline for the mission. Engineers believe the spacecraft successfully descended through the atmosphere and landed on a solid surface because the probe's carrier wave, the spacecraft's only direct transmission to Earth during the encounter, was detected by radio telescopes on Earth during the planned descent and well after landing. Scientific data collected by Huygens was transmitted to the Cassini orbiter as is flew by Titan; it will relay the data to Earth later today. Some initial results may be released later Friday, although a more comprehensive release of data is not expected until Saturday.
ESA's Huygens spacecraft has successfully landed on the surface of Titan, project officials said Friday. The probe, which detached from the Cassini spacecraft December 25, entered Titan's upper atmosphere 5:13 am EST (1013 GMT), landing on the surface at about 7:34 am EST (1234 GMT), based on a planned timeline for the mission. Engineers believe the spacecraft successfully descended through the atmosphere and landed on a solid surface because the probe's carrier wave, the spacecraft's only direct transmission to Earth during the encounter, was detected by radio telescopes on Earth during the planned descent and well after landing. Scientific data collected by Huygens was transmitted to the Cassini orbiter as is flew by Titan; it will relay the data to Earth later today. Some initial results may be released later Friday, although a more comprehensive release of data is not expected until Saturday.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Saturday, August 22
NRO Awards Operational Commercial Radio Frequency Capabilities Augmentation
NRO — 3:23 pm ET (1923 GMT) ‘Hidden’ stars make first galaxies much more massive than previously thought
Univ. of Leiden — 3:15 pm ET (1915 GMT) Asteroid impact shaped the appearance of Mars’ moon Deimos
Univ. of Bern — 3:07 pm ET (1907 GMT) HawkEye 360 Awarded NRO Commercial RF Capability Augmentation Contract
HawkEye 360 — 3:04 pm ET (1904 GMT) All Points Logistics Awarded NASA Spacecraft Processing and Operations Contract (SPOC) On-Ramp, Building on Recent 2026 Wins and Milestones
All Points — 2:58 pm ET (1858 GMT) |
