CASSINI—HUYGENS
The Huygens probe has landed and is sending first images from
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, scientists are awed.
A signal that the parachutes had separated from its mothership, Cassini, was received by the US space agency at its Jet Propulsion Lab [JPL] in Pasadena. Huygens made a successfull landing on the smog-shrouded satellite of Saturn. When it entered Titan's atmosphere, the probe will have just a few hours to collect data before its batteries die. This is the length of time the 2.7m-wide probe will be in view of Cassini, the relay station through which the data on the moon's environment will be sent back to Earth.
With great additional links to all participating partners, such as JPL and ESA.
Great video animation by the BBC.
Nice for a relaxed day and dream into Space's fantasy.
NASA/JPL HUYGENS DESCENT
Cassini - Huygens separation
NASA/JPL -- NEWS -Features-
Huygens Probe Descent Multimedia
NASA PORTAL TO SPACE EVENTS
EUROPE Reaches New Frontier - Huygens Lands on Titan
Darmstadt -- Jan. 14, 2005 (Source: ESA) Today, after its seven-year journey through the Solar System on board the Cassini spacecraft, ESA's Huygens probe has successfully descended through the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn¿s largest moon, and safely landed on its surface.
The first scientific data arrived at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, this afternoon at 17:19 CET. Huygens is mankind's first successful attempt to land a probe on another a world in the outer Solar System. "This is a great achievement for Europe and its US partners in this ambitious international endeavour to explore the Saturnian system," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's Director General.
ESA Cassini-Huygens Homepage
Esa - Saturn over Titan
NASA/JPL
BBC Huygens probe
CASSINI-HUYGENS INSTRUMENTS
To gather as much science as possible during its historic mission to the Saturnian system, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is equipped with 18 instruments, 12 on the Cassini orbiter and six on the Huygens probe.
Many of these sophisticated instruments are capable of multiple functions, and the data that they gather will be studied by scientists worldwide.
Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) was the best known scientist of the Dutch Golden Age. His inventions and discoveries in astronomy, physics and mathematics revolutionized 17th-century science
De Saturni luna observatio nova (The Hague, 1656)
Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology:
Systema Saturnium, sive de causis mirandorum Saturni phænomenôn, et comite ejus planeta novo (The Hague, 1659)
Perhaps the best-known astronomical work of Huygens is the Cosmotheoros (1698), a popular work on the construction of the universe and the possibility of life on other planets, published a few years after his death.
An online edition of the English translation of 1698 is available here:
The Celestial Worlds Discover'd (London, 1698)
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