posted 11-24-2004 04:23 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by DChudwin:
An incredible animation of Cassini flying around Saturn and through its rings can be found here.

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posted 12-14-2004 05:07 PM            

I think that Titan will turn out to be very much like Io's surface but with an atmospheric attitude! I think the surface will be hardish volcanics covered with a dusty layer - we can just about see volcanoes with ash tales (suggesting a particular wind direction?) and what appears to be a few impact craters. (There are some image defects which have to be taken into account.) The dark areas I think are likely be igneous materials like basalts.

But, whatever surface turns out to be, its all good stuff so far.

posted 12-14-2004 06:09 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by spaceuk:
Whose delivering Huygens - Santa?

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Cassanta?

posted 12-30-2004 11:00 AM            

The images of Huygen some distance from Cassini seemed to evoke Newton's First Law exquisitely for me :

"A body (Huygen) continues in its state of motion in a straight line unless it is subjected to a force (Titan's atmosphere)."

posted 01-09-2005 06:03 PM            

Huygens Descent and Landing
14th Jan 2005

0907 GMT - Arrival of Huygens probe at entry interface at an altitude 1270 km. Data acquisition starts.

1130 GMT - Huygens probe reaches Titans surface. Data acquisition continues. Huygens data transmitted to Cassini orbiter. Once all the Huygens probe data has been recorded on the orbiter it is transmitted to Earth.

1344 GMT - The orbiter will stop collecting probe data and point back to Earth. Complete data sets transmitted to JPL (via NASA Deep Space Network (Madrid and Canberra ground stations) repeated several times - and forwarded to ESOC. It takes approx. 66 minutes for the radio signal to reach Earth.

1514 GMT First telemetry received at JPL

1521 GMT First data received at ESOC from JPL.

1500 GMT PPARC Media briefing opens Reprise ESA TV transmissions, direct links to UK scientists at ESOC, live relay of ESA/ESOC Media briefing

1600/1700 GMT ESA/ESOC Media briefing: first data information

1900 GMT - PPARC Media briefing closes

2200 GMT, the first image possibility, subject to full data receipt and processing. If available then ESA press release and posted to ESA website.

15th January

1000 GMT ESA/ESOC Press briefing: comprehensive first results and images.

NB: All ESA press briefings will be available on ESA TV and are subject to confirmation on ESA TV web pages.

posted 01-10-2005 02:17 PM               

I ask because I remember watching a live programme on the Giotto encounter with Halley's Comet back in 1986 and it was the most boring programme imaginable. As the images took weeks to process and enhance so any details could be visible, all we saw was a grey screen. No-one knew anything about the state of the probe, and the presenters had no idea what to say or how to manage the viewers expectations.

Hopefully things have moved on since then, but the same limitations are going to apply. Even if signals are recieved back what will we actually see?

Am I being pessimistic?

posted 01-10-2005 02:23 PM               

Live from another world
by Daniel Fischer

Nothing remotely like the Voyager, Pathfinder, or MER experience is about to repeat when Huygens lands on Titan, according at least to the current plans by the European Space Agency. The incoming raw images for the DISR cameras will only be seen by the scientists directly involved in the project: They will work on them and release them only hours later, after much processing of contrast and resolution. A few glimpses of the DISR images may be shown some hours after they arrived, but the majority of them, plus all the other data collected during the descent, are only to be released during a news briefing the next day. Now it is understandable that the European Space Agency wants to release only the best material, but to deprive the public of the chance to experience the mission as it happens (or happened) is a major blunder.

posted 01-12-2005 12:28 PM            

The effects of which refractions are very remarkable; for by them we often see objects which the rotundity of the Earth ought otherwise to hide; such as islands and the tops of mountains when one is at sea.

posted 01-13-2005 11:23 PM               

3-3:30 a.m. - Live Coverage and Commentary "Cassini Turns Towards Titan - Interruption of Radio Contact" - JPL/ESA

5-6:30 a.m. - Live Coverage and Commentary "The Huygens Probe Enters the Atmosphere of Titan" - JPL/ESA

6:30-7 a.m. - JPL Commentary - JPL (Mission Coverage)

7:30-8 a.m. - ESA News Briefing "Mission Status" - JPL/ESA

8:30-9:15 a.m. - ESA Commentary on Huygens Probe Mission - JPL/ESA (Mission Coverage)

9:30-10 a.m. - JPL Commentary - JPL (Mission Coverage)

10-10:30 a.m. - ESA Commentary "Cassini Turns Back to Earth - Data Transmission Begins" - JPL/ESA

10:30-11:15 a.m. - JPL Commentary - JPL (Mission Coverage)

11:15 a.m.-12 p.m. - Huygens Probe News Briefing - JPL/ESA (Mission Coverage)

1 p.m. - NASA Update with Sean O'Keefe - KSC

2:45-3:15 p.m. - ESA Commentary "Presentation of First 18 Images from Titan" - JPL/ESA (Mission Coverage)

5-5:30 p.m. - ESA Commentary and "Additional Images from Tital & B-Roll" - JPL/ESA

posted 01-14-2005 01:56 AM            

But, of course, today - Friday the 14th January 2005 - is an important day for one of Saturn's many moons - the moon of Titan. If I was observing it through my telescope I would be able to see that Saturn was tilted and showing off its beautiful rings and that the moon Titan would be about 0.008 AU and at an angular separation of just under 2 minutes from Saturn. It is just over 8 AU from my observing site here on Earth.

And, today Titan it will receive its first visitor from Earth - the Huygen's probe.

It is also an "important" day for myself and my family as we eagerly await news later this afternoon - when the first signals arrive - that we hope to hear that the Huygen's probe successfully descended through Titan's atmosphere and survived to land onto its surface. For, aboard the probe, myself and family members have our names on the CD disk that is attached to the probe as its descends. It seems aeons ago on the 20th January 1997 - since I applied and successfully had our names accepted by ESA. Originally, Huygens was intended for a late 2004 descent to Titan but flight plan adjustments made today the descent day.

While reviewing the flight plan for the descent of Huygen's through the atmosphere of Titan later this morning (GMT time) I began to wonder what music I would have played to the Titanian's (if they existed!) from a loud speaker had it been attached to Huygen's as it descended? [see note below]

There are the classical offerings from composers like Beethoven, Mozart and even Brahms! But, in the end, I decided I would have played a more modern offering - the orchestral and bagpipe version of Paul McCartney's "Mull of Kintyre". The swirl of the bagpipes to me seems an ideal choice for the swirling murky mists of Titan as well as the mists of the Mull of Kintyre. If you have ever heard bagpipes being played in dusk in the hills and valleys of Scotland the haunting sounds never seem to 'leave' you! The sound seems to carry for miles and miles and seems to be 'magically mixed' with the misty air. The sounds will reverberate off nearby hills and 'swish' amongst the heather's on the slopes. So, for me, it is this music that I would have played on the descent.

Incidentally, just for the hell of it, I will play my CD version of 'Mull of Kintyre' later today here on Earth as a substitute.

Other contenders in my mini list were orchestral versions of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" or Andrew Lloyd Webber's orchestral version of "Phantom of the Opera"!

posted 01-14-2005 06:23 AM            

The normally staid news readers at BBC TV News were excited this morning!

posted 01-14-2005 10:21 AM               

Huygens has arrived.

The probe landed on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan this morning around 7:45 ET, reported elated scientists from the European Space Agency, who are eagerly awaiting data about the cloud-shrouded moon.

"We have a signal. We know that Huygens is alive meaning the dream is alive," said Jean-Jacques Dordain director general for ESA which designed Huygens. "This is already an engineering success and we will see, later this afternoon, if this is a scientific success."

"This is clearly an engineering success and we know the probe has been successfully entering the atmosphere, has been descending on the parachute to the surface," said Jean-Pierre Lebreton, ESA's Huygens project scientist.

"But at this moment we cannot say more. I mean, we have not seen the data. What we have seen is a tone, a signal, which was indicating that the probe was transmitting but we have not seen any real data yet. So I would like to wait a bit more to say whether we have a successful mission or not."

The first Huygens data via the Cassini telemetry playback is expected in about an hour.

posted 01-14-2005 12:03 PM               

..and this is NOT the first European success. It comes on top of Mars Express, SMART 1, and hopefully Rosetta and Venus Express. I just wish my country (UK) played a more substantial role.

posted 01-14-2005 07:39 PM            

Here are some early data results they gave us:

• Huygens is rock solid on surface tilted about 20 degrees.

• Marti - of Imaging team - says he seen about 10 images only so far. Its taking longer to derive pictures as they need to correlate the image data with coordination data to make sure they have right material.

• Because of loss of data channel only about half of the originally planned 750+ images will be available - about 320-350.

• Color images could be several days away - maybe even 1-2 week away he said as they have to correlate with the spectrometer readings.

• The penetromter worked. It had a very high spike to begin with but then dropped and 'levelled out' - suggesting the Pi said something like 'wet sand'.

• The upper atmosphere temperature was seen at about -200 degree centigrade.

• The surface temperature reading suggests about -180 degree centigrade.

• Four nitriles have been detected so far.

• The image team working through tonight to try and get some more images available for tomorrow (Saturday).