The Huygens Probe - An Overview
The Huygens probe was a probe designed to be carried to Saturn's moon Titan as part of the Cassini-Huygens mission. The probe was launched on October 15th, 1997 and reached Titan's surface on January 14th, 2005. The probe was designed to be able to land on water or a solid surface, and was expected to transmit back 30 minutes of data from the surface. It parachuted through the atmosphere successfully, and transmitted back 90 minute of data from the surface.
Titan had been selected for the mission because of it's similiarities to Earth, and it's orange, thick atmosphere had made it impossible to observe the surface so an entry-probe was required. Scientist' belief that Titan could have water, and therefore life, made the moon especially intriguing. Scientists also had guessed that Titan would also have similiar geological features to Earth, but had no observations to back it up. The probe was designed to be able to answer all of these burning questions about Titan.
The probe's data found intriguing answers to all of these questions. It transmitted back the most in-depth data on the atmosphere, including its chemical makeup. Landing on the surface allowed the probe to survey the geological features, finding an especially interesting 'ice volcano' and well as the possibility for liquid. The probe concluded there was no water on Titan because it is too cold, but there may be other liquids that may be enough to support at least simple life. Use the links on the left to find out more about the Huygens probe's journey to Titan.