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Huygens mission science
After entering orbit around Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft will launch the European Huygens probe to make a parachute landing on the surface of the moon Titan. The scientific objectives of Huygens are explained by probe project manager Jean-Pierre Lebreton. (3min 14sec file)
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Saturn's moon Titan
Learn more about Saturn's moon Titan, which is believed to harbor a vast ocean, in this narrated movie. (4min 01sec file)
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Relive Cassini's launch
An Air Force Titan 4B rocket launches NASA's Cassini spacecraft at 4:43 a.m. October 15, 1997 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. (5min 15sec file)
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Deep Impact overview
Rick Grammier, NASA's Deep Impact project manager from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, provides a detailed overview of the spacecraft and its mission. (4min 54sec file)
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Science preview
Deep Impact principal investigator Michael A'Hearn explains how the comet collision will occur and what scientists hope to learn. (7min 11sec file)
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Pre-flight news briefing
The pre-flight news conference is held at NASA Headquarters on December 14 to preview the Deep Impact mission to intercept a comet and blast a projectile into it. (54min 19sec file)
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Mars rover update
Steve Squyres of Cornell University, the rovers' principal investigator, discusses the latest discoveries from Spirit and Opportunity.
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Observatory watched Titan when Huygens arrived
KECK OBSERVATORY NEWS RELEASE Posted: January 16, 2005
The Huygens probe impacted Titan's atmosphere at 0906 GMT (local time on Titan) Friday, with an expected landing on Titan's mysterious surface three hours later. This near-infrared image shows Titan at the moment Huygens reached its target.
Near-infrared surface image of Titan captured with Keck adaptive optics system moments after the Huygens probe reached its target. The bright and dark patterns on Titan's surface may be regions of solid ice and of liquid hydrocarbons. Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory
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"Although no disturbances in Titan's atmosphere were detected, the observations provide the best images that characterize the satellite at the moment of probe entry", says Antonin Bouchez, a staff member at the Keck observatory, who was leading the observing effort.
"It was worth getting up in the middle of the night for this historic moment", says Fred Chaffee, director of the Keck Observatory, "despite the bad weather on the mountain". Winds were blowing at 40-50 mph, while the mountain top itself was still cloaked with snow and ice from a recent storm. Other team members that particpated in the observations were David LeMignant from the Keck Observatory, Imke de Pater, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, and Michael Brown, a professor at Caltech.
Titan is of particular interest to scientists because it is the only moon in our solar system with a dense, methane-rich, nitrogen atmosphere, reminiscent of our own atmosphere here on Earth. The moon is cloaked in a thick, smog-like haze produced by the breakup of methane by sunlight. Further study of this moon could provide clues to planetary formation and evolution and, perhaps, about the early days of Earth as well.
To get a closer look at Titan, scientists from three different international space agencies developed the Cassini-Huygens mission, a spacecraft orbiter that arrived in Saturn's orbit in July 2004 after a seven-year voyage. The four-year mission will include 70 orbits around the ringed planet with an array of instruments to study the planet, its rings and its 30 known moons.
The Huygen's probe detached from Cassini on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24th, 2004. The probe has since been falling to Titan and entered the atmosphere shortly after midnight, local time on Friday morning (0906 GMT) January 14, 2005. Three sets of parachutes were to slow the probe and to provide a stable platform for scientific measurements. Instruments on board will collect information about the atmosphere's chemical composition and the clouds surrounding Titan during its 2-2.5 hour descent. The data will be radioed to the Cassini orbiter, which will then relay the data to Earth.
Near-infrared images were taken from the W. M. Keck Observatory with the near infrared camera, NIRC2, and the adaptive optics system at the time of probe entry. The team had planned imaging sequences to look for thermal emissions or condensates at the probe entry site.
Video coverage for subscribers only:
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NEW PICTURES PRESENTED WITH EXPERT NARRATION QT
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LISTEN TO SOUNDS FROM HUYGENS WITH NARRATION QT
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LISTEN TO SOUNDS FROM HUYGENS WITH NARRATION FOR IPOD
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RESULTS FROM HUYGENS' SURFACE SCIENCE PACKAGE QT
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CHIEF SCIENTIST EXPLAINS COMMUNICATIONS ERROR QT
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SATURDAY PHOTO & SCIENCE BRIEFING DIAL-UP | BROADBAND
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SATURDAY PHOTO & SCIENCE BRIEFING FOR IPOD
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THE FIRST PICTURE FROM HUYGENS IS REVEALED QT
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HUYGENS POST-LANDING NEWS BRIEFING DIAL-UP
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STATUS REPORT DURING DESCENT DIAL-UP | BROADBAND
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MISSION STATUS REPORT DURING DESCENT FOR IPOD
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HUYGENS PRE-ARRIVAL NEWS BRIEFING DIAL-UP | BROADBAND
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HUYGENS PRE-ARRIVAL NEWS BRIEFING FOR IPOD
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OVERVIEW OF HUYGENS PROBE'S SCIENCE OBJECTIVES QT
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JULY NEWS BRIEFING ON CASSINI'S PICTURES OF TITAN QT
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PICTURES SHOWING TITAN SURFACE FROM OCT. FLYBY QT
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WHAT'S KNOWN ABOUT TITAN BEFORE THE FIRST FLYBY QT
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NARRATED MOVIE OF CLOUDS MOVING NEAR SOUTH POLE QT
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OCT. BRIEFING ON RADAR IMAGES OF TITAN SURFACE QT
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