Earth receiving data on Titan's secrets - Page 3

**Donger** · 01-14-2005, 01:10 PM

For the space geeks among us...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/0...tan/index.html

(CNN) -- Huygens successfully transmitted its first packet of irreplaceable data from Saturn's moon Titan this morning as scientists at the European Space Agency's operations center in Germany erupted in applause.

"We are the first visitors to Titan and the scientific data we are collecting now shall unveil the secrets of this new world," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general for ESA, in Darmstadt, Germany.

He called it a fantastic success for Europe and the spirit of international collaboration that brought together 19 nations, including the United States for the Cassini-Huygens mission.

Huygens' batteries -- designed to last just a few minutes after touchdown -- continued to power the probe's transmitter for more than two hours after landing. The data is now streaming to Earth, via the satellite Cassini orbiting Saturn, as a worldwide network of radio telescopes captures it.

Eager scientists, some who have dedicated 25 years to the project, are poring over the data, translating ones and zeros into images and measurements of the moon's atmosphere. The first pictures of Titan's surface will be released by ESA about 2:45 ET.

"This data is for posterity," said David Southwood, director of science for ESA. "It's for mankind....Scientists are going to argue as we piece together our place in the universe, of how we came to be. It's just the beginning for our science teams."

Earlier in the day, radio telescopes confirmed the probe survived reentry, successfully deployed its three parachutes and landed on the moon's icy surface. Cassini received information until it passed beyond the moon's horizon and out of contact. Now Cassini has turned toward Earth and is sending the data to scientists.

They hope all the data will survive transmission uncorrupted, said Bob Mitchell, program manager for the Cassini-Huygens mission at NASA.

"What we know is the probe survived reentry.... descended the atmosphere, contacted the surface and transmitted for at least an hour and half," he said. "What we don't know is how did the instruments work, how did Cassini work and do we have the data intact."

Huygens reached the surface of Saturn's moon Titan on Friday around 7:45 ET, reported elated scientists from the European Space Agency, standing ready to analyze long-awaited data from the cloud-shrouded moon.

"We have a signal. We know that Huygens is alive meaning the dream is alive," said Jean-Jacques Dordain director general for ESA which designed Huygens. "This is already an engineering success and we will see, later this afternoon, if this is a scientific success."

The saucer-shaped probe has completed the final hours of its 2.2 billion-mile mission to Titan, an enormous moon larger than the planet Pluto.

"It's going to be the most exotic place we've ever seen," said Candice Hansen, a scientist for the Cassini-Huygens mission. "We've never landed on the surface of an icy satellite. We know from our pictures that there are very different kinds of geological processes."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is an unprecedented $3.3-billion effort between NASA, the European Space Agency, which designed the probe, and Italy's space program to study Saturn and its 33 known moons. The two vehicles were launched together from Florida in 1997.

"The mission is to explore the entire Saturnian system in considerably greater detail than we have ever been able to do before: the atmosphere, the internal structure, the satellites, the rings, the magnetosphere," said Cassini program manager Bob Mitchell at NASA.

The Huygens probe, about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, spun silently toward Titan after it detached from the Cassini spacecraft on December 24. Cassini will remain in orbit around Saturn until at least July 2008.

The mission "will probably help answer some of the big questions that NASA has in general about origins and where we came from and where life came from," Mitchell said.

Titan's atmosphere, a murky mix of nitrogen, methane and argon, resembles Earth's more than 3.8 billion years ago. Scientists think the moon may shed light on how life began.

Finding living organisms, however, is a remote possibility. "It is not out of the question, but it is certainly not the first place I would look," Hansen said. "It's really very cold." A lack of sunlight has put Titan into a deep-freeze. Temperatures hover around -292 F (-180 C) making liquid water scarce and hindering chemical reactions needed for organic life.

New discoveries
The mysteries of Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, have always enticed researchers. Scientists are perplexed why Saturn, a gas-giant composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, releases more energy than it absorbs from faint sunlight. Titan is also the only moon in the solar system to retain a substantial atmosphere, one even thicker than Earth's.

The 703-pound, battery-powered Huygens probe parachuted through Titan's clouds of methane and nitrogen for two-and-a-half hours, sampling gases and capturing panoramic pictures along the way.

Huygens hit the upper atmosphere 789 miles (1,270 km) above the moon at a speed of about 13,700 mph (22,000 km/h). A series of three parachutes slowed the craft to just 15 mph (24 km/h). Chutes and special insulation protected Huygens from temperature swings and violent air currents. Strong winds -- in excess of 311 mph (500 km/h) -- buffeted the craft.

Its sensors deduced wind speed, atmospheric pressure and the conductivity of Titan's air. Methane clouds and possibly hydrocarbon rain was analyzed by an onboard gas chromatograph. A microphone listened for thunder.

Three rotating cameras took panoramic views of the moon and a radar altimeter mapped Titan's topography. A special lamp illuminated the probe's landing spot to help determine the surface composition.

Engineers had been confident that Huygens and its suite of six sensitive instruments would survive the descent.

"From an engineering standpoint, I'm very confident in a positive outcome," said Shaun Standley, an ESA systems engineer for Huygens at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. "We've been over this again and again for the last three years fine-tuning this."

Cassini crossed Saturn's rings without mishap in June 2004 and produced the most revealing photos yet of the rings and massive gas-giant. A problem with the design of an antennae on Cassini almost scrapped Huygens' mission, but engineers altered the spacecrafts' flight plans to resolve the transmission problem.

**Donger** · 01-14-2005, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hydrae

No, he thinks that there are no new inovations that will come about because of this specific journey.

Other than learning more about our solar system, perhaps not.

However, he said, "Name the last thing that space exploration provided that had any real use on earth," not specific to this mission.

**morphius** · 01-14-2005, 04:33 PM

What if the real use of these missions is to give us reasons and the ability to leave Earth, where we are one comet/asteroid away from not being.

jspchief · 01-14-2005, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger

You don't think that the modern personal computer has "real world applications?"

Let me put it in crayon font so it will sink it for the slow kids. I don't think we needed to land on the moon to develop computers. Computers may be a by-product of the space program, but the advancement of space science has nothing to do with our ability to invent computers (unless there's moon rocks hidden in this thing). You don't need a picture of Saturn to invent smoke detectors.

If you want to spend tax money on science that makes things better for mankind, that's one thing. I've yet to see anything space related that's improved mankind though. If all those geniuses were being paid to invent computers and smoke detectors instead of rockets, we may have had this stuff 20 years earlier.

**Donger** · 01-14-2005, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jspchief

Let me put it in crayon font so it will sink it for the slow kids. I don't think we needed to land on the moon to develop computers. Computers may be a by-product of the space program, but the advancement of space science has nothing to do with our ability to invent computers (unless there's moon rocks hidden in this thing). You don't need a picture of Saturn to invent smoke detectors.

If you want to spend tax money on science that makes things better for mankind, that's one thing. I've yet to see anything space related that's improved mankind though. If all those geniuses were being paid to invent computers and smoke detectors instead of rockets, we may have had this stuff 20 years earlier.

Well, that's better. If you'd been more precise with your language, you'd have gotten no argument from me.

You asked a question and I gave you an answer. No need to get pissy about it.

Valiant · 01-14-2005, 04:45 PM

yeah why wonder about the universe??? I mean by that logic we would have never found out earth is not the center of the solar system... they are after knowledge, some people do not want to pay the price i guess..

**Bob Dole** · 01-14-2005, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger

No need to get pissy about it.

Of course there is. He doesn't have any Tang.

**morphius** · 01-14-2005, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valiant

yeah why wonder about the universe??? I mean by that logic we would have never found out earth is not the center of the solar system... they are after knowledge, some people do not want to pay the price i guess..

I do always find it kind of sad when people live too much in the now and don't look to the future at all. I mean, why send sputnik into space, surely there is nothing there that can help us down here now. Oh, well excpet for 1000's of satalites that have went up since that control communications, television, gps, weather, etc...

jspchief · 01-14-2005, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valiant

yeah why wonder about the universe??? I mean by that logic we would have never found out earth is not the center of the solar system... they are after knowledge, some people do not want to pay the price i guess..

I guess I put my price on "useful" knowledge. I may want to know why my dick curves to the left, but that doesn't mean I think billions in tax dollars should be spent finding out.

There's a lot of scientific research going on in the world that has real world implications and it relies solely on private funding. Meanwhile, a portion of every penny I earn gets used because someone wants to know what it looks like on saturn's moon. It's neat. It's interesting. Yet I don't feel like I'm getting much return on the dollar.

**Rausch** · 01-14-2005, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jspchief

If you want to spend tax money on science that makes things better for mankind, that's one thing. I've yet to see anything space related that's improved mankind though. If all those geniuses were being paid to invent computers and smoke detectors instead of rockets, we may have had this stuff 20 years earlier.

And if you weren't speninding so much on alcohol, smokes, and sports teams we might have cured some killer disease...

You never know what we could find or take from these missions...

Hydrae · 01-14-2005, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jspchief

I guess I put my price on "useful" knowledge. I may want to know why my dick curves to the left, but that doesn't mean I think billions in tax dollars should be spent finding out.

There's a lot of scientific research going on in the world that has real world implications and it relies solely on private funding. Meanwhile, a portion of every penny I earn gets used because someone wants to know what it looks like on saturn's moon. It's neat. It's interesting. Yet I don't feel like I'm getting much return on the dollar.

Heck, if private industry would get off it's butt and get behind the idea of opening up space we would get there a lot faster too.

I am all for the privatization of space. But NASA is there for exploring, not making a profit. Once private industry gets on the bandwagon, we will be having tourists flying by Saturn and not needing to rely on robotic drone spaceships.

jspchief · 01-14-2005, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rausch

And if you weren't speninding so much on alcohol, smokes, and sports teams we might have cured some killer disease...

You never know what we could find or take from these missions...

Difference being, my drinking and sports (no smoking) are funded solely by me.

You might have a point if I came to your house and took a five out of your wallet every friday for a couple of 40's of Colt 45. I don't what know we'll find out there. I also don't know what ahyone will find in a cancer research lab. But at least at the cancer lab, I understand the need.

I don't know what percentage of government science funding goes to NASA. But I am willing to bet it's probably more than a lot of areas that could have more of a real world impact.

**Donger** · 01-14-2005, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob_Dole

Of course there is. He doesn't have any Tang.

Wasn't aware of that benefit.

01-14-2005, 01:10 PM
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $10269900 VARSITY	Earth receiving data on Titan's secrets For the space geeks among us... http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/0...tan/index.html (CNN) -- Huygens successfully transmitted its first packet of irreplaceable data from Saturn's moon Titan this morning as scientists at the European Space Agency's operations center in Germany erupted in applause. "We are the first visitors to Titan and the scientific data we are collecting now shall unveil the secrets of this new world," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general for ESA, in Darmstadt, Germany. He called it a fantastic success for Europe and the spirit of international collaboration that brought together 19 nations, including the United States for the Cassini-Huygens mission. Huygens' batteries -- designed to last just a few minutes after touchdown -- continued to power the probe's transmitter for more than two hours after landing. The data is now streaming to Earth, via the satellite Cassini orbiting Saturn, as a worldwide network of radio telescopes captures it. Eager scientists, some who have dedicated 25 years to the project, are poring over the data, translating ones and zeros into images and measurements of the moon's atmosphere. The first pictures of Titan's surface will be released by ESA about 2:45 ET. "This data is for posterity," said David Southwood, director of science for ESA. "It's for mankind....Scientists are going to argue as we piece together our place in the universe, of how we came to be. It's just the beginning for our science teams." Earlier in the day, radio telescopes confirmed the probe survived reentry, successfully deployed its three parachutes and landed on the moon's icy surface. Cassini received information until it passed beyond the moon's horizon and out of contact. Now Cassini has turned toward Earth and is sending the data to scientists. They hope all the data will survive transmission uncorrupted, said Bob Mitchell, program manager for the Cassini-Huygens mission at NASA. "What we know is the probe survived reentry.... descended the atmosphere, contacted the surface and transmitted for at least an hour and half," he said. "What we don't know is how did the instruments work, how did Cassini work and do we have the data intact." Huygens reached the surface of Saturn's moon Titan on Friday around 7:45 ET, reported elated scientists from the European Space Agency, standing ready to analyze long-awaited data from the cloud-shrouded moon. "We have a signal. We know that Huygens is alive meaning the dream is alive," said Jean-Jacques Dordain director general for ESA which designed Huygens. "This is already an engineering success and we will see, later this afternoon, if this is a scientific success." The saucer-shaped probe has completed the final hours of its 2.2 billion-mile mission to Titan, an enormous moon larger than the planet Pluto. "It's going to be the most exotic place we've ever seen," said Candice Hansen, a scientist for the Cassini-Huygens mission. "We've never landed on the surface of an icy satellite. We know from our pictures that there are very different kinds of geological processes." The Cassini-Huygens mission is an unprecedented $3.3-billion effort between NASA, the European Space Agency, which designed the probe, and Italy's space program to study Saturn and its 33 known moons. The two vehicles were launched together from Florida in 1997. "The mission is to explore the entire Saturnian system in considerably greater detail than we have ever been able to do before: the atmosphere, the internal structure, the satellites, the rings, the magnetosphere," said Cassini program manager Bob Mitchell at NASA. The Huygens probe, about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, spun silently toward Titan after it detached from the Cassini spacecraft on December 24. Cassini will remain in orbit around Saturn until at least July 2008. The mission "will probably help answer some of the big questions that NASA has in general about origins and where we came from and where life came from," Mitchell said. Titan's atmosphere, a murky mix of nitrogen, methane and argon, resembles Earth's more than 3.8 billion years ago. Scientists think the moon may shed light on how life began. Finding living organisms, however, is a remote possibility. "It is not out of the question, but it is certainly not the first place I would look," Hansen said. "It's really very cold." A lack of sunlight has put Titan into a deep-freeze. Temperatures hover around -292 F (-180 C) making liquid water scarce and hindering chemical reactions needed for organic life. New discoveries The mysteries of Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, have always enticed researchers. Scientists are perplexed why Saturn, a gas-giant composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, releases more energy than it absorbs from faint sunlight. Titan is also the only moon in the solar system to retain a substantial atmosphere, one even thicker than Earth's. The 703-pound, battery-powered Huygens probe parachuted through Titan's clouds of methane and nitrogen for two-and-a-half hours, sampling gases and capturing panoramic pictures along the way. Huygens hit the upper atmosphere 789 miles (1,270 km) above the moon at a speed of about 13,700 mph (22,000 km/h). A series of three parachutes slowed the craft to just 15 mph (24 km/h). Chutes and special insulation protected Huygens from temperature swings and violent air currents. Strong winds -- in excess of 311 mph (500 km/h) -- buffeted the craft. Its sensors deduced wind speed, atmospheric pressure and the conductivity of Titan's air. Methane clouds and possibly hydrocarbon rain was analyzed by an onboard gas chromatograph. A microphone listened for thunder. Three rotating cameras took panoramic views of the moon and a radar altimeter mapped Titan's topography. A special lamp illuminated the probe's landing spot to help determine the surface composition. Engineers had been confident that Huygens and its suite of six sensitive instruments would survive the descent. "From an engineering standpoint, I'm very confident in a positive outcome," said Shaun Standley, an ESA systems engineer for Huygens at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. "We've been over this again and again for the last three years fine-tuning this." Cassini crossed Saturn's rings without mishap in June 2004 and produced the most revealing photos yet of the rings and massive gas-giant. A problem with the design of an antennae on Cassini almost scrapped Huygens' mission, but engineers altered the spacecrafts' flight plans to resolve the transmission problem.
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01-14-2005, 04:33 PM	#32
morphius World's finest morphius Join Date: Aug 2000 Casino cash: $6905027	What if the real use of these missions is to give us reasons and the ability to leave Earth, where we are one comet/asteroid away from not being.
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01-14-2005, 04:45 PM	#35
Valiant Valiant 'The Thread Killer' Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $6352380	yeah why wonder about the universe??? I mean by that logic we would have never found out earth is not the center of the solar system... they are after knowledge, some people do not want to pay the price i guess..
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