• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Hyugens probe nearly on Titan!

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Woah, to think this is all happening, right now...

Fingers crossed things are going well. I really can't wait to see the news from this.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
The descent should be finished by now, one way or another, if all went well. The whole job will be done in a couple of hours, and all that's left will be for us to receive the data. Amazing to think it's just one short burst of activity.

I really hope we get colour pictures fast, and the sound recordings (yeah, probably just wind, but heh..).
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
"Radio astronomers confirm Huygens entry in the atmosphere of Titan"

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMIEPQ3K3E_0.html

What the Green Bank radio telescope has detected is only a ‘carrier’ signal. It indicates that the back cover of Huygens must have been ejected, the main parachute must have been deployed and that the probe has begun to transmit, in other words, the probe is ‘alive’. This, however, still does not mean that any data have been acquired, nor that they have been received by Cassini.
Click to expand...

A good first sign!
 
S

Seth C

Member
Ah, and all the times are in CET. Thanks to my work I think in CET anyway. Perfect. Looks like we should have data on earth within 3 hours.
 
T

Templar Wizard

Member
within 3 of our earth hours...
Ü

thing is: i heard that the upload is only 8k/s, and the images taken are quite big. we WILL be waiting.
its like shoemacher-levy and mars rovers again... i have been destroyed by popular media, my patience level is tiny...
 
D

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
All These Worlds Are Yours, Except Europa. Attempt No Landing There.
 
L

Lucky Forward

Member
DarienA said:
All These Worlds Are Yours, Except Europa. Attempt No Landing There.
Click to expand...
You know, that's one part of Clarke's story I just didn't get. If you want to goad humanity into doing something, just try telling them that they can't. I didn't read the next book after 2010, though, so I don't know how that particular admonishment worked out.
 
D

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
Lucky Forward said:
You know, that's one part of Clarke's story I just didn't get. If you want to goad humanity into doing something, just try telling them that they can't. I didn't read the next book after 2010, though, so I don't know how that particular admonishment worked out.
Click to expand...

To say that the series spirals hoplessly out of control after 2010 is an understatement. Don't read any of it...really.
 
P

Pimpwerx

Member
DarienA said:
To say that the series spirals hoplessly out of control after 2010 is an understatement. Don't read any of it...really.
Click to expand...
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. ;) When Jupiter goes nova, the diamond market will go belly-up. PEACE.
 
D

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
Pimpwerx said:
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. ;) When Jupiter goes nova, the diamond market will go belly-up. PEACE.
Click to expand...

Oh no somebody else has read em! ;)
 
G

G4life98

Member
yay!

Champagne%20POP.jpg
 
Kuramu

Kuramu

Member
this is so cool. i've been waiting for this for so long, i forgot i was waiting for this at all until i saw the thread. shame the first pictures won't be color. are we even expecting color at some point?
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Yay! I've been looking forward to this for what seems like forever.

Kuramu said:
shame the first pictures won't be color. are we even expecting color at some point?
Click to expand...

Not sure, but god I hope so.

Seems like it landed on ground as opposed to liquid.

Apparently it was also "alive" on the surface for a little longer than expected.

The only potential stumbling blocks now are a) if the instruments didn't work or b) if the data got corrupted between hyugens and cassini or cassini and earth.
 
P

Pimpwerx

Member
This was the most interesting probe since Viking or those Russian Venus probes IMO. Anytime we land on a surface we can't see, I find it amazing. I've been waiting on this one for years, and I just hope all their instruments worked. Is it methane? What's the surface pressure? What's it even look like? Man, I hope we get lots of info soon. PEACE.
 
K

Koshiro

Member
gofreak said:
Only one of the experiments (the wind measuring one), relies on Channel A though, so even if it's not working Channel B should make sure everything else gets through.
Click to expand...
That's good news, thanks.
 
B

B-B-Bomba!

Member
DarienA said:
To say that the series spirals hoplessly out of control after 2010 is an understatement. Don't read any of it...really.
Click to expand...

Taking that as a given, would you (or anybody :) ) mind indicating why we were forbidden from Europa, and by whom? Because I've often wondered that.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Wow, the thing kept transmitting for over 2 hours after it landed. The battery was only expected to last minutes.

The descent aside, 2 Hours on the surface is a decent time. Could see things like changes in clouds, perhaps even weather if there is any (there's been talk of methane rain, but who knows?).
 
K

Koshiro

Member
gofreak said:
Wow, the thing kept transmitting for over 2 hours after it landed. The battery was only expected to last minutes.

The descent aside, 2 Hours on the surface is a decent time. Could see things like changes in clouds, perhaps even weather if there is any (there's been talk of methane rain, but who knows?).
Click to expand...
2 hours *on the ground*? That's stunning, what's the explanation for that?
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Koshiro said:
2 hours *on the ground*? That's stunning, what's the explanation for that?
Click to expand...




top.main.titan.shoreline.jpg



edit - Sorry! Had to interrupt my post! First pic!

But yeah, I was surprised too. I thought they were including the time of the descent aswell, but apparently not. According to CNN:

The first probe to land on Saturn's moon, Titan, has signaled it survived its descent. The Huygens space probe was designed to last only minutes on Titan's surface, but surpassed the expectations of mission managers. Huygens descended the atmosphere, contacted the surface and transmitted for at least an hour and half, said NASA's Bob Mitchell.
Click to expand...

They go on to mention the two hour figure in the article itself.

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.
Click to expand...
 
O

olimario

Banned
This is awesome! I've been following Cassini since prior to launch. Such a cool project.
Does anyone have my GIF from the Mars thread? The one where the rock rises out of the ground and blasts off?
 
K

Koshiro

Member
:O OMG okay I want to see if there's any liquid in any direction, just to make sure. Amazing to see clouds and stuff on another object though, can't stress that one enough.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
The third pic looks like a birds-eye view as it descended. The black lines almost look like rivers (?) of methane?

It has 3 panoramic cameras, so we should get full 360 degree photos.
 
D

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
B-B-Bomba! said:
Taking that as a given, would you (or anybody :) ) mind indicating why we were forbidden from Europa, and by whom? Because I've often wondered that.
Click to expand...

From my shitty memory I believe it was because the Monolith was encouraging/developing life on Europa and it didn't want Man interfering with that new life.
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
NASA battery folks need to be hired by the rest of the industry because they consistently seem to get MORE power from their batteries than they expect. I would guess Sony's PSP group will be contacting them in the morning.

Then again, Titan looks just like Mars so perhaps the Titan aliens are just rebroadcasting Mars webcam footage to us.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Deadpool & Wolverine: 30 Spoiler-Filled Details From the First 35 Minutes
Spoilers
19
5K
Toots replied
‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ Reboot Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar Nears Hulu Pilot Order With Chloé Zhao Directing
45
2K
Miyazaki’s Slave replied
Nine minutes of R-rated Deadpool 3 footage shown at CinemaCon (Spoilers)
Spoilers
12
4K
Husky replied
  • Poll
France tests banning phones in 200 schools
Social 2
86
4K
ForAcademicPurposes replied
The Parallel Gaming Universe and it's Implications
6
482
Glass Prison replied
Top Bottom