Update for eight o'clock in the morning (15/1): three pictures
At around 22:00 p.m., NASA television broadcast the first images released by the European Space Agency from Huygens' landing on Titan. Meanwhile, this is an image taken during the descent, from a height of about 16 kilometers (40 meters per pixel) and in which river channels and coastlines are clearly visible.
This is also how it sounded in the description of David Southwood, the scientific director of the European Space Agency in the live broadcast.
Judge for yourself, although the image is not processed.
And in addition - a first picture from the ground
Third image - from a height of 8 kilometers (20 meters per pixel). In this photo, compared to the first photo, you can see in more detail the landing area near the coastline, where there is a clear difference between elevated areas and flooded plains.
Ice, liquid and islands were photographed on Titan
The Huygens space probe, which landed yesterday (Friday) on Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn, revealed in the images it sent an area consisting of a mixture of ice and liquid. In the first three images, giant ice-shaped blocks, drainage channels, coastlines and islands are visible, reminding scientists of both Earth and Mars. "I think none of us expected such a discovery," said Al Diaz, one of the participants in the NASA project.
One image sent by the tracker shows an open area with large rocks. The scientists ruled out the possibility that these were rocks composed of hydrochloric acid, but assumed that they might be made of ice. Another image showed drainage canals, which scientists assume carried fluids from valleys on the moon. In the third image, light and dark areas and another area in the shape of a boxing glove are visible. "The areas were probably flooded or are currently flooded," NASA said.
A temperature of minus 180 degrees
The heavy fog on the moon makes it difficult to determine if there is liquid methane and ethane there. But the scientists say that the organic chemicals discovered on Titan are similar to processes that occurred on Earth four billion years ago. Titan's atmosphere consists mostly of nitrogen, like Earth's, but the temperature in its territory reaches minus 180 degrees Celsius.
The Huygens rover is the spacecraft that managed to land at the longest distance from Earth so far. It started sending the first signals to Earth about two hours after its landing. Despite the satisfaction with the results, scientists have confirmed that one of the probe's two measuring tools has stopped working. However, the more important instrument, which is responsible for chemical measurements on the star, is performing well. The information collected by the probe was transmitted to Earth via its mother spacecraft, Cassini, which orbits the Earth.
Interim summary - European Space Agency
After a seven-year journey through the solar system aboard the Cassini spacecraft, today the European Huygens spacecraft successfully passed through the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, and landed safely on its surface.
The first scientific data arrived at the European Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany in the afternoon at 17:29 CET (18:29 Israel time). The Huygens mission is the first successful attempt to land a spacecraft on another world in the outer solar system. "This is a great achievement for Europe and its American partner. In this ambitious international mission to explore the Saturn system," said Jean-Jacques Durdin, ASA director.
Following its release from the Cassini spacecraft on December 25, Huygens reached Titan's outer atmosphere after a 20-day, 4 million kilometer journey. The spacecraft began its entry into Titan's nebulous cloud layer at an altitude of 1,270 kilometers at 11:13 European time (an hour must of course be added to Israel time). During the next three minutes, the spacecraft had to accelerate from 18 km/h to 1,400 km/h. A series of parachutes slowed the spacecraft to 300 km/h. At an altitude of about 160 kilometers, the scientific instruments were exposed to Titan's atmosphere. At an altitude of 120 km, the main parachute was replaced by a smaller parachute to complete the descent and touchdown was expected at 13:34 p.m. Preliminary data indicated that the spacecraft landed safely, apparently on rough terrain.
The spacecraft began transmitting data to Cassini 4 minutes after it began its descent and continued to transmit after landing for at least as long as Cassini was above Titan's horizon. Reassurance that Huygens had survived came as early as 11:25 a.m., when the radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia, USA, picked up a faint, unmistakable signal from the spacecraft. Radio telescopes around the world continued to pick up the signals far beyond Huygens' expected life.
Huygens' data transmitted by Cassini was received by NASA's Deep Space Network and immediately transferred to the European Space Agency's operations center in Darmstadt, where the initial scientific analysis is already being carried out.
"Titan was the main target in the Saturn system because it is a fascinating world and we are now looking forward to the scientific results," said Professor David Southwood, European Space Agency's Science Program Director.
"The Huygens scientists are happy. It was worth waiting a long time," said Dr. Jean-Pierre Leverton, director of the Huygens mission on behalf of the ASA. Huygens is expected to provide the first detailed direct sampling of the chemistry of Titan's atmosphere, and the first images of its hidden surface, and will also provide a detailed report on the weather.
One of the main reasons for sending Huygens to Titan is due to its atmosphere made mostly of nitrogen and rich in methane, and its surface may contain many chemicals of the type that were common on the young asteroid. Together with Cassini observations, Huygens will allow an unusual view of the mysterious moon of Saturn. "Descent into Titan's atmosphere was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and today's achievement shows that the partnership with the European Space Agency is excellent," said Alfonso Diaz, NASA's Assistant Administrator for Science. "The teamwork in Europe and the US between the scientists, industry and agencies has been outstanding and created a basis for today's enormous achievements," concluded Jean-Jean Droudin.
