Huygens...

[PMC]

Am waiting with baited breath...

The last news I've heard is that Huygens was confirmed as having descended into Titan's atmosphere. It's shed it's heat shield and deployed it's parachute as a beacon signal has been transmitted to Cassini.

Touchdown should have occurred at 13:34(ish) GMT and any data would be relayed via Cassini. At 14:44 GMT, Huygens will not longer be in contact with Cassini and will have completed it's mission. At 15:14 GMT, Cassini will aim it's antenna at Earth and the first data should be transmitted... (all above times factoring in the 67 minutes it takes for radio signal to reach Earth).

The waiting continues... Am actually very excited, I missed the moon landings by four and three quarter years, was two when Viking landed on Mars so this will be the first time I will see data coming in from an virgin world as it happens.

[whabang]

Touchdown has been confirmed. Data is apparently being transmitted now!

[PMC]

Probably taking lots of close up shots of curious Titanians, scratching their heads and pointing upwards...?

Maybe it's bobbing about in an oily sea?

Could it even be sitting on a rocky outcrop taking breathtaking pics of a vivid orange sky with a faint view of Saturn setting on the horizon?

Or else it's being asked by Titanian Customs and Excise if it's got anything to declare?

[Star69]

PMC wrote:
Or else it's being asked by Titanian Customs and Excise if it's got anything to declare?

:laugh:

[JaXanim]

First pictures of the Titan terrain Here (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html).

JaX

[Karlos]

The aerial photographs during the descent sure seem to confirm the presence of liquids on the surface.

[odin]

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:!!!!111!!!!!111

[cecilia]

Karlos wrote:
The aerial photographs during the descent sure seem to confirm the presence of liquids on the surface.yup, it seems to be methane.

(I suppose this will really boast Mr. Methane's career!)

Apparently the soft landing will produce alot more pics than they had hoped for. yeah!
yes, it's time for....dance de banan

:banana:

[Doobrey]

whabang wrote:
Touchdown has been confirmed. Data is apparently being transmitted now!

Woohoo.. it travelled over 1bn miles, landed safely and is working well.
On the other hand, my car breaks down every 8000 miles, and I can`t get a ruddy signal on my mobile when I set foot outside the house :pissed: ..not fair

[whabang]

Doobrey wrote:
Woohoo.. it travelled over 1bn miles, landed safely and is working well.
On the other hand, my car breaks down every 8000 miles, and I can`t get a ruddy signal on my mobile when I set foot outside the house :pissed: ..not fair
:lol:

[Karlos]

cecilia wrote:

Karlos wrote:
The aerial photographs during the descent sure seem to confirm the presence of liquids on the surface.yup, it seems to be methane.

(I suppose this will really boast Mr. Methane's career!)



An ocean of fart. How delightful :-D

[Speelgoedmannetje]

first pictures already available:

http://www.nrc.nl/images/050115a,1.jpg


I wonder when they find some pots n kettles and some parts of an engine on the photo :-?

[JaXanim]

Blimey! This sure looks like a shoreline to me! (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html)

JaX

[blobrana]

Hum,
I guess that it`s a tar lake...

http://www.geocities.com/amigarana/huygens.html (sorted now)

Wow! Bandwidth overload!

(new site)

http://members.lycos.co.uk/blobrana2/huygens.html

[JaXanim]

@blobrana

Lake Bitumen. Stick around. Take a cool, cleansing ethane shower and sample the joys of cryovolcanism. Or for those who can't make the trip, enjoy the armchair views from a ninehundred million miles. Amazing eh?

JaX

[blobrana]

Hum,
i suppose the California tar pit isn’t too far away...

[PMC]

Anyone see the Open Uni programme on Friday night?

(yes, instead of being out on the razz, I was in fact lying in bed watching a tv programme about a mission to Titan - a claim to geekdom?)

Someone suggested that below the crust of Titan is a salty ocean, and a geologically active core that could drive geothermal vents in very much the same way as seen in Earth's oceans and very possibly Europa's too.

Could a liquid, warm ocean fed by volcanic activity harbour life of some kind, a billion miles from here?

[Karlos]

PMC wrote:

Someone suggested that below the crust of Titan is a salty ocean, and a geologically active core that could drive geothermal vents in very much the same way as seen in Earth's oceans and very possibly Europa's too.

Could a liquid, warm ocean fed by volcanic activity harbour life of some kind, a billion miles from here?

Sure. If it works here, it can work there too. As long as you have an energy source and the right ingredients it could possibly habour life.

Of course, this all assumes that there are liquid oceans underneath. There's no proof yet.

[Karlos]

Nothing new on the ESA site now for a bit. I'm getting impatient :-)

@PMC

Hmm, an ironic thought. Here on earth we have cold (relatively speaking), salty oceans of water sitting over a crust, under which there exist pools of (presumably much warmer) hydrocarbons. Titan might have it all backwards :-)

[PMC]

@Karlos,

Yeah, strange thought isn't it? Titan's literally an inside-out world... Who knows, maybe there's something living under the crust, gaining warmth and nutrition from geothermal vents (and possibly drilling upwards for hyrdrocarbons with which they power their SUVs?).

As for the lack of pics, my orginal guess was that Titan Customs and Excise have impounded the photos and won't release them until we stump up the Duty for them. I'm sure ESA is negotiating as I type...

And they will be less than impressed at our attempts to smuggle bootleg CDs into Titan if they decide to disassemble Huygens...

[Karlos]

(and possibly drilling upwards for hyrdrocarbons with which they power their SUVs?).


Subterrainian Utility Vehicles?

[cecilia]

what's really (http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/images/titans_secret.gif) happening on Titan.

:-o

[Karlos]

cecilia wrote:
what's really (http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/images/titans_secret.gif) happening on Titan.

:-o

:lol:

Surprised he's not wearing a parka. It's a bit chilly out :-D