Does anyone know if the Huygen's probe which will be landing on Titan; carries a camera. I was under the impression that it did not.
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Does anyone know if the Huygen's probe which will be landing on Titan; carries a camera. I was under the impression that it did not.
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It has a camera and will even transmit pictures from descending. It has a floodlight to brighten the view at the landing spot, as it may be pretty dark there.
And it carries a CD-ROM with my name on it :-)
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraf...ts-huygens.cfm
Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR):
This instrument will make a range of imaging and spectral observations using several sensors and fields of view. By measuring the upward and downward flow of radiation, the radiation balance (or imbalance) of the thick Titan atmosphere will be measured. Solar sensors will measure the light intensity around the Sun due to scattering by aerosols in the atmosphere. This will permit the calculation of the size and number density of the suspended particles. Two imagers (one visible, one infrared) will observe the surface during the latter stages of the descent and, as the probe slowly spins, build up a mosaic of pictures around the landing site. There will also be a side-view visible imager to get a horizontal view of the horizon and the underside of the cloud deck. For spectral measurements of the surface, a lamp that will switch on shortly before landing will augment the weak sunlight.
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An old theory, now they found evidence. Originally, huygens was targeted to land on something that was believed to be a continent, but due to the receiver problem, that's not any longer the case.
Huygens is constructed to be able to float on a hydrocarbon lake - I guess this would be the first time some craft is swimming not on the earth.
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Do you know have the BABB record for one's work being the furthest from Earth? :wink:Originally Posted by kucharek
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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
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From New Scientist:
Titanic waves break on Saturn's sludgy moon
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Huygens in perfect health
On the way to its final destination, Titan, ESA's Huygens atmospheric probe underwent an important health check-up yesterday.
The NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn on 1 July, crossing twice the planet's rings. The data collected yesterday at ESA's European Space Operations Centre show that this delicate and risky manoeuvre proved harmless for all instruments on board and mission control specialists gave Huygens a perfect bill of health.
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Huygens probe in good health
ESA's Huygens probe, now orbiting Saturn on board the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft, is in good health and successfully passed its fifteenth 'In-Flight Checkout' on 14 September 2004.
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Last saturday, ESOC, the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, had open house. I saw the Huygens engineering model and the Huygens control room - ready to rumble.
Harald
PS: On one wall in the main building was a big topographic map of Mars with some people watching it. Little Lukas, my six year old, walks in front of it, points to one thing and says: "Daddy, this is Olympus Mons!" Pointing to another feature: "And this Vallis Marineris!" See a dozen yaws dropping...
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Wow—congratulations kucharek! Here’s hoping little Lucas finds himself looking through a porthole down at your probe someday ;)
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Titan on Target
At the beginning of next year, the descent probe, Huygens, will try to sample what lies beneath the thick atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Huygens passed its last in-flight checks and scientists are preparing for the perilous, one-way trip towards the surface.
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Actually, my signature is on the Cassini disk, as is that of my entire family. All it took was a post card! :P
//edited to say that this isn't intended to take anything away from kucharek's accomplishment
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I thought the signature disk, in the end a DVD instead of a CD-ROM, was on the Cassini spacecraft proper and not on Huygens. I dimly recall seeing a picture of it mounted, and it wasn't on Huygens. Anyone know differently?
By the way, here's the invitation to send in signatures.
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Anybody else have their name (and/or instrumentation) on Voyager 1?
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There is a DVD on Cassini and a CD-ROM in Huygens. The stuff for Huygens was collected via a website. ESA sent copies of the CD-ROM to everyone who left his adress at the website.I thought the signature disk, in the end a DVD instead of a CD-ROM, was on the Cassini spacecraft proper and not on Huygens. I dimly recall seeing a picture of it mounted, and it wasn't on Huygens. Anyone know differently?
By the way, here's the invitation to send in signatures.
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_2_1997_p_EN.html
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_5_1997_i_EN.html
Harald
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That explains it. Thanks.
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Scientists prepare for space probe's plunge into Titan's atmosphere
On Jan. 14, 2005, the probe will plow into the orange atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan, becoming the first spacecraft to attempt to land on a moon in our solar system since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 touched down on Earth's moon in 1976.
Though scientists hope that Huygens will survive the plunge, it will be flying blind through hydrocarbon haze and methane clouds to a surface that could consist of seven-kilometer-high ice mountains and liquid methane seas.
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Another one for Milton Banana:
Huygens Will Listen For Thunderstorms
One of the six scientific instruments on board the European Space Agency's Huygens probe is a tiny microphone designed to help scientists listen for lightning strikes as the spacecraft descends through the atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan. Huygens is scheduled to arrive at Titan on January 14, 2005, after it's released by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. If Huygens actually passes through a storm, the microphone should actually be able to pick up the sound of liquid methane rain splashing against the spacecraft's casing. If the probe does find thunderstorms, this could indicate that they're part of the process that helps create the organic molecules detected in the moon's atmosphere.
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Will Huygens fireball be visible from Earth?
When the Huygens probe heats up from friction as it descends into Titan's thick atmosphere, will its light be visible from ground telescopes around the world?
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Um-could thunderstorms actually occur under such cold conditions??This is not Saturn-where thunderstorms are most likely fueled from heat within the planet, like at Jupiter.
In fact, I'm surprised thunderstorms are being considered at all on Titan, unless there are ways alien thunderstorms could happen that I don't know about.
:-k
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Crunch, squelch, or splash?
The prospect of the Huygens probe landing on a hard, soft or liquid surface when it lands on Titan next January still remain following further analysis of data taken during the Cassini mother ship's closest encounter with Saturn's largest moon during its fly-by on October 26.
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@kucharek: The Mars polar lander carried a CD-ROM with my name on it and crashed or got lost otherwise.
Beagle, about the same design as Huygens, malfunctioned on Mars.
I hope these are not bad omens
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I know a guy at ESA working on Huygens who gets pretty upset when confronted with such a statement
Beagle and Huygens have nearly nothing in common.
Harald
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Point taken.
Let's wait and enjoy the pics.
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a oozzie landing!
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publ...n.html?8112004
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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
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On Top of Titan's Mountain
When Cassini flew by Saturn's moon Titan on October 26, scientists got a small taste of the discoveries to come. Athena Coustenis of the Paris-Meudon Observatory discusses a potential landscape of mountains and lakes on this strange, smog-filled world.
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Radio Telescopes Will Add to Cassini-Huygens Discoveries
Another team, led by scientists from the Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry in Europe (JIVE), in Dwingeloo, The Netherlands, will use a world-wide network of radio telescopes, including the NRAO telescopes, to track the probe's trajectory with unprecedented accuracy. They expect to measure the probe's position within two-thirds of a mile (1 kilometer) at a distance of nearly 750 million miles.
"That's like being able to sit in your back yard and watch the ball in a ping-pong game being played on the Moon," said Leonid Gurvits of JIVE.
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.
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Cameras to look down, with illumination, side looking cameras to check the horizon, and a microphone to 'listen' for thunder, siphons and pumps to sample the atmosphere and a variety of particle detectors, light level readings etc... etc...! How exciting!
I bet the space community hasn't waited for data like this since those russian venus landers. 8)
I can't wait!
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