Discussion: Huygens Landed in Mud

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: Scientists at the European Space Agency now believe that Huygens landed with a splat when it reached the surface of Titan last Friday. They reached this conclusion because the probe's downward-facing High Resolution Thermal Imager camera lens has accumulated material since Huygens landed. This means that the probe has probably been settling down into the muck. Another possiblity, though, is that it steamed hydrocarbons off the surface which are collecting on the lens.

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[antoniseb]

It's hard to think of it as mud, though I guess that's the closest thing we have to a descriptive word for it. I wonder how far down the slushy slurry goes before getting to something that is clearly either solid or liquid.

[StarLab]

What would be the implications if it turned out the latter (hydrocarbons) was correct? What if the muck hypothesis is correct?

Personally, I vote for, and hope for, muck.

[Spacemad]

It came as a bit of a surprise to me to read the article about Huygens landing not with a "thud" or a "splash" but with a "squelch"! :P

We had all been speculating for weeks about how it would land & our hopes for a "soft" landing - well it seems we got our wish come true!!! If indeed it landed in "Titanium mud" ! :P

It was also good that the light should have come on when it was programmed to & lasted longer than anticipated - that way the scientists will be able to obtain more data than if they had not come on or had not lasted as long as they did. Another resounding success for the engineers who designed & built the Huygens!