Cassini/Huygens Mission Update Thread

[bobw]

Yes. Thanks for the wonderful pictures. I was wondering about that river-like system. The big view confuses me more! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bobw]

That would be wierd but not wierd beyond belief. I didn't think of it before your post but there is some liquid, liquid helium2 I think, that does flow uphill a bit. I think it has something to do with surface tension and it can maintain itself as a siphon pipe once you get it flowing. So it could be something like you suggest. It would be more fun that way, wouldn't it? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[aerogi]

Does anyone have an idea or calculation how big that channel system is? Because it looks huge! And how wide the channels might be? Because I find it a bit weird that none of these could be seen from the radar mapping of the Cassini spacecraft. Or is the resolution from those radarmapping not high enough?

 

[bobvanx]

I saw on another thread that the surface is a thin crust with something perhaps crumbly underneath. That's how I would describe an iced-over stream. In the animation, it does look like the rocks of possibly water ice are half-submerged, doesn't it? Because of image compression, I can't tell if there is really a flowing shallow surface or not. My bet would be not, and we are merely seeing the effects of image artifacts.

 

[bobw]

Well, I'll give it a shot. I got this picture from the ESA website. <br /><br /><font color="yellow">This is one of the first raw images returned by the ESA Huygens probe during its successful descent. It was taken from an altitude of 16.2 kilometres with a resolution of approximately 40 metres per pixel. </font><br /><br />The island looking thing is 24.4 pixels long so that makes it 976 meters long. And the river is 200 meters wide. I could be wrong if this isn't a full-sized picture, but it said raw data so it is probably right. I'll try scaling this picture to match one of those big mosaics and then measure the whole river-thing but I have to sleep soon. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

<i>"How many other worlds have we taken pictures from?" -- rocketwatcher2001</i> <br /><br />Not quite "from", but decent images:<br /><br />Final NEAR Shoemaker Descent Images of Eros from 2001 Feb 12 <br /><br /> So now (outside Earth) we've landed on two planets, <b>TWO</b> moons, and an asteroid. And, hopefully, in nine or ten years, a comet! (I'm referring to Rosetta, I don't count Deep Impact as a landing.)<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[ianzxcvb]

Not to mention the Galileo probe's dive into Jupiter - shame they didn't have cameras on that one.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[tom_hobbes]

Fossils, is there any way of removing the image, you're screwing up the thread. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#339966"> I wish I could remember<br /> But my selective memory<br /> Won't let me</font><font size="2" color="#99cc00"> </font><font size="3" color="#339966"><font size="2">- </font></font><font size="1" color="#339966">Mark Oliver Everett</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

What is the place of landing ,solid or liquid methane?

 

[alokmohan]

Is titan as we expected?I mean having atmosphere similar to earth and liquid methane seas.

 

[bobw]

BBC has a news conference live and they just played sounds! I think it's live. It says live on the homepage. I missed a lot while at work tonight. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bobw]

It looks like new stuff to me. New mosaics!<br /><br />Q have you seen other hydrocarbons<br /><br />A acetylene -- no comment<br /><br />Q pyrolytic experiment<br /><br />A vaporize to find other volatiles<br /><br />Q Why lost channel--ESA or NASA<br /><br />A Lost 1/2 pictures-- no comment on blame<br /><br />Q water ice?<br /><br />A yes<br /><br />Q who fault again?<br /><br />A Having enquiry--command missing ---What command I don't know <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /><br /><br />Q What was second sound?<br /><br />A amplitude and principal fragments averaged and added something that allows humans to hear the sound --microphone was for lightning detection<br /><br />Q Dark region by shoreline --how can you tell if it is liquid<br /><br />A Need reflection spectral analysis-light worked for an hour after landing--going to do lab work to try to match spectra--lander looking for specular reflections just llike orbiter to find if liquid but diffuse lighting makes that unlikely<br /><br />Q do any of the instruments show hints of lightning<br /><br />A no <br /><br />It looks like they are re-playing the pictures without commentary. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jaredgalen]

>This is a good edited gif.. <br /> /><br /> />http://www.mars.asu.edu/~gorelick/huygens1.gif <br /><br /><br />About half way through this gif, something floats down passed the camera lens, something resembling a piece of snow. How cool is that.<br />

 

[retro555]

I missed this press conference. Please clarify - did they truly lose image data due to the channel problem? That would be devastating.

 

[centsworth_II]

Rather than transmit 350 of the same images on both channels for redundancy, the image team chose to transmit 350 different (but similar) images on the second channel. The loss of 350 images is sad, but not devastating. A lot of it would be overlap. There may be a few holes in the panaramas, we'll have to wait and see. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[davp99]

Cool Stuff huh...<br /><br />The Science channel/ Discovery channel is the Bomb..Still waiting for the Sounds ...has anyone heard them yet ?? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="4">Dave..</font> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

The sounds reminded me of the 50-70 mph winds whipping outside my house last hurricane season.<br /><br />Also some neat sound, I think, representing some kind of sonar as the probe landed. I didn't quite get the explanation, but the moderator of the press briefing described it as great techno music. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[captainjacksparrow]

Hi everyone,<br /><br />New here, been following Cassini-Huygens since lift off though, waiting and waiting and waiting<br /><br />Wow, what an accomplishment!!! Big congrats to ESA! Successfully pulling off their first lander, on Titan of all places, is just a huge accomplishment. I mean Mars is great and all but this is a new world. Talk about exploring new frontiers! This what it's all about!<br /><br />I was wondering, what colour panoramas can we expect and when can we expect them? Are those raw images listed in this thread the whole output of the lander or does ESA have more stuff that's not released yet. <br /><br />I'm hoping that loss of a channel was mainly repeating images, and we can process what we got into some nice pano (I know it's not going to be Mars Rover Quality) but still a good picture says so much.<br /><br />But fantastic, fantastic stuff! I say we get planning to go back to Titan right now!<br /> <br />

 

[davp99]

Windy as heck in my Area also...even blew off my neighbors screen door..Watching the Science channel now...showing the Photos now...Hopefully they will share the Sounds....<img src="/images/icons/crazy.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="4">Dave..</font> </div>

 

[aerogi]

In the following pic, with a little imagination, you can see the see, with the beach and some streets in the background... <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> and furtherback the mountains...<br />http://www.esa.int/images/Picture2_L.jpg

 

[ianzxcvb]

I'd love to know what the black liquid is - given theres a methane cycle it could be just that though judging by the colour and the size of the ripples on the surface it looks more like very long carbon chain molecules like oil.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[flynn]

Great stuff, just heard the audio of the decent. Doesn't give much away but certainly cool to hear another world. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[thalion]

You know, I think Cassini--but especially Huygens--have just given rise to a new field: Titanology. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Have just heard the audio as well, and its thought-provoking--you can definitely hear what sound like gusts when the pitch suddenly increases. Let's not forget that Huygens played a little tune once she reached the surface. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> I am also surprised by the color image--not only because I was unsure if Huygens could take color pictures, but also because the image was much brighter than I (and probably most scientists) expected; I expected some kind of murky, almost tomato-red color. As they mentioned before the landing, you really could see easily on Titan, even with the thick clouds and sunlight 1/100 as strong as on Earth.<br /><br />I wonder if those staid Europeans will get around to naming their rocks. j/k <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Once again, I cannot stress enough how happy I am to be alive at this moment. Like one of the Voyager scientists said after the Neptune encounter, this will be the last new world for a long time (Not counting the asteroids or comets, of course, <i>s'il vous plait</i>!).

 

[pocket_rocket]

It's a nice place to visit, but I don't think I could live there.

 

[flynn]

Yes it is the last new worlds for a while, but I'm still looking forward to upcoming missions to find out more about Mercury, Venus and Mars.<br /><br />The Cometary missions and Stardust are also very exciting.<br /><br />Back to Titan.. I'd guess the changes in pitch during decent were probably just the velocity of the wind changing as Huygens swung under the canopy of the decent chutes meaning the wind would be blowing accross the probe (and the microphone) from different directions. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>