ROTFLMFAO...... :-)
Posted on 01/13/2005 10:48:21 AM PST by Pyro7480
Suicide probe takes Saturn mission to climax
PARIS (AFP) - The most ambitious interplanetary mission ever launched reaches a climax when a clam-shaped probe plunges towards Titan in a suicidal quest to unlock the mystery of Saturn's biggest moon.
If all goes according to plan, the death dive of the European probe Huygens could push back the frontiers of knowledge about the Solar System.
For more than four hours, the scout will relay back to its mothership precious data which could help explain the chemical recipe that enabled life to appear on Earth several billion years ago.
"Titan has a very thick nitrogen atmosphere which also contains lots of methane, and where you see methane you have complex organic (carbon) chemistry," Huygens project manager Jean-Pierre Lebreton told AFP from mission control in Darmstadt, Germany.
"We suspect that Titan's atmosphere is undergoing the same type of chemical reactions that took place on Earth way before life appeared. These precursors are called prebiotic chemistry, in other words, the chemistry which took place on Earth before the emergence of life."
The descent is the high point of a 3.2-billion-dollar (2.5-billion-euro), 20-year cooperative venture between the United States and Europe, the two biggest powers in the scientific exploration of space.
Cassini, a powerful unmanned NASA orbiter studded with hi-tech scanners to map Saturn, was launched in October 1997, with Huygens taking a piggyback ride.
Put together, the tandem was a monster: 5.6 tonnes in weight, 6.7 metres (21.75 feet) long and four metres (14 feet) wide, making it one of the biggest interplanetary payloads ever launched.
Cassini-Huygens was so heavy that no rocket of sufficient size was available to give it a big enough push for reaching Saturn directly.
So the spacecraft was sent on an elaborate game of Solar System pinball.
On a 2.1-billion-kilometer (1.3-billion-mile) trek, it looped twice around the Sun, twice around Venus, once around Earth and once round Jupiter, picking up gravity "assists" that, like a slingshot, helped it build up enough speed to reach the outer Solar System.
In July last year, Cassini-Huygens tandem finally reached Saturn, the largest planet after Jupiter, and separated on December 25. Since then, Huygens has been drifting towards Titan's surface on a finely-calculated path.
At 0907 GMT Friday, it will be show time.
Huygens will enter the fringes of Titan's roiling atmosphere, its six sensors protected from friction-generated temperatures by a tough composite shell.
Over the next four and a half hours, during a long descent by parachute and then -- hopefully -- for some time after landing, the probe's cameras and gas analysers will transmit back their findings to the orbiting Cassini.
The mothership will then turn around so its antenna points to Earth and transmit the digital treasure back home via NASA's Deep Space Network, an array of sensitive ears tuned to the void.
"We hope to get the first information around 2pm, 3pm" (1300 GMT, 1400 GMT), said Lebreton.
Titan is the only moon in the Solar System to have clouds and a thick, planet-like atmosphere.
Even though it may have clues as to the chemical processes that unfolded on the infant Earth, Titan is quite unlikely to have life.
With a surface temperature of -180 C (- 292 F) and barely illuminated by the distant Sun, it has none of the ingredients -- warmth, light and liquid water -- deemed essential for organisms. If there is an ocean on Titan, it is likely to be of frozen methane, scientists believe.
Huygens is named after the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, who discovered Titan in 1655. Cassini's name comes from the Italian Jean-Dominique Cassini (1625-1712), who discovered the Saturnian satellites Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione. In 1675, he discovered what is called the "Cassini Division," the gap between Saturn's rings.
After Friday's drama, the orbiter will continue to circle Saturn for another three and a half years, pursuing a detailed survey of the ringed giant and its moons.
I said it before, I'll say it again: Godspeed, Huygens! I'm excited :)
An Earth spaceship on Titan. This is way cool. Hopefully, all the instruments will work.
It should survive the landing and transmit data for some time as long as its batteries last.
But will it get to see the Flag the astronauts left? /sarcasm
Unfortunately, Cassini is set to turn and transmit after 30 minutes of Huygens landing.
It doesn't matter how long it survives.
Yeah, the title is slightly misleading. Also, due to fact that the Cassini probe will move out of transmitter range shortly after the Huygens probe begins its decent, the mission's duration time will be very short.
But kidding aside, I love to hear about this -- it really is exciting stuff.
Someday, PE, although probably not in my lifetime. I'm really encouraged that President Bush has set a goal of a manned mission to Mars. Did you notice that America quit dreaming of traveling to the stars in the 1970's, at the same time Americans quit singing in Hollywood musicals? About the same time a discouragingly large number of Americans adopted self-loathing as their view of our Republic.
"But will it get to see the Flag the astronauts left? /sarcasm"
I forget, was that Waters or McKinney
I have a feeling that the probe is going to land on a cow.
ROTFLMFAO...... :-)
The only possible way that this could be any cooler, is if Burt Rutan were the guy directing it...
This is gonna be great!
Waters. Thanks, I had a brain fart, and could remember her name.
I know I've been disappointed at the state of manned exploration in my lifetime. Maybe the kids will get a shot at it.
"Titan has a very thick nitrogen atmosphere which also contains lots of methane, and where you see methane you have complex organic (carbon) chemistry,"
Complex organic carbon chemistry? Long chain and branched hydrocarbons - crude oil. Will the surface be covered with crude oil? :-)
It was actually Sheila Jackson-Lee, when the Sojourner probe landed on Mars, asked if the probe could see where the American flag was. It just goes to show that there is little difference between the female members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
I heard a rumor that some large earth antennas will be arrayed to attempt to pick up Huyghen's signal after the Cassini relay concludes - will look for confirmation...
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