An overview of the descent and landing of the Huygens probe on Titan.
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is the only Solar System planetary body other than Earth with a thick nitrogen atmosphere. The Voyager spacecraft confirmed that methane was the second-most abundant atmospheric constituent in Titan's atmosphere, and revealed a rich organic chemistry, but its cameras could not see through the thick organic haze. After a seven-year interplanetary journey on board the Cassini orbiter, the Huygens probe was released on 25 December 2004. It reached the upper layer of Titan's atmosphere on 14 January and landed softly after a parachute descent of almost 2.5 hours. Here we report an overview of the Huygens mission, which enabled studies of the atmosphere and surface, including in situ sampling of the organic chemistry, and revealed an Earth-like landscape. The probe descended over the boundary between a bright icy terrain eroded by fluvial activity--probably due to methane-and a darker area that looked like a river- or lake-bed. Post-landing images showed centimetre-sized surface details.
Lebreton
Jean-Pierre
JP
Research and Scientific Support Department, ESA Science Directorate, ESTEC, 2200 AG, Noordwijk, the Netherlands. jean-pierre.lebreton@esa.int
Witasse
Olivier
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Sollazzo
Claudio
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Blancquaert
Thierry
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Couzin
Patrice
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Schipper
Anne-Marie
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Jones
Jeremy B
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Matson
Dennis L
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Gurvits
Leonid I
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Atkinson
David H
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Kazeminejad
Bobby
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Pérez-Ayúcar
Miguel
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