CASSINI-HUYGENS
I've been following the progress of the Cassini-Huygens mission now that the spacecraft is moving through Saturn's gravitational field, photographing moons and rings with far greater clarity and precision than Voyager's revolutionary photos 25 years ago, or even Hubble's terrific shots of the planet in bright relief.
The most exciting aspect of the mission is the dropping of the Huygens probe into Titan's atmosphere, a landing scheduled for December '04/January '05. Christiaan Huygens, who died in 1695 (!) discovered Titan and opened the world's eyes to Saturn's rings.
Apparently, Huygens (the probe), if it survives its 15mph impact, will yield about 30 minutes of atmospheric and surface data before it ceases to function. Most excellent!
The most exciting aspect of the mission is the dropping of the Huygens probe into Titan's atmosphere, a landing scheduled for December '04/January '05. Christiaan Huygens, who died in 1695 (!) discovered Titan and opened the world's eyes to Saturn's rings.
Apparently, Huygens (the probe), if it survives its 15mph impact, will yield about 30 minutes of atmospheric and surface data before it ceases to function. Most excellent!
posted by Andrew @ 5:01 PM
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