Titan calling Earth! It's solid ground, dudes...
Jan 14, 2005 14: 36 EST
Imagine you worked on a project for 25 years and today was the day of its success or failure. That was exactly the situation for the scientists involved in the European Space Agency's Huygens probe which was scheduled to land today after a seven year long expedition.
Scientists close to tears
Would it crash or would it survive - and, more importantly, would it work? The guys watched their computers with bated breath when the screens suddenly came to life with - the first message from Titan!
People who started the project in the early 1980's were close to tears. The landing is the farthest yet by any manmade object.
Saturn's largest moon
Huygens landed on the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan early this morning (EST), sending back a steady stream of data back to Earth. "Cassini has started delivering data," a spokesman told reporters at ESA mission control in Darmstadt, Germany.
Only moon with substantial atmosphere
Titan is the only moon in the Solar System that has a substantial atmosphere. Its thick mix of nitrogen and methane is suspected to be undergoing chemical reactions similar to those that unfolded on Earth billions of years ago. That process eventually provided the conditions for life on our planet.
Oceans?
The really interesting part is that Titan might have liquid oceans. It is as yet unclear exactly what the saucer-like spacecraft landed on. "We hope to have the first results tonight," said scientists, but the landing appeared to be on a solid ground. The probe kept on transmitting for several hours. If it had landed in liquid, the transmissions would only have lasted for a few minutes. The first images are expected soon.
Artist's impression on what it might look like on Titan, courtesy of ESA.
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