• → European Space Agency

      • Space for Europe
      • Space News
      • Space in Images
      • Space in Videos
    • About Us

      • Welcome to ESA
      • DG’s blog
      • For Member State Delegations
      • Business with ESA
      • Law at ESA
      • ESA Exhibitions
      • ESA Publications
      • Careers at ESA
      • ESAshop
    • Our Activities

      • Space News
      • Observing the Earth
      • Human and Robotic Exploration
      • Space Transportation
      • Navigation
      • Space Science
      • Space Engineering & Technology
      • Operations
      • Telecommunications & Integrated Applications
      • Preparing for the Future
    • Careers at ESA

    • For Media

      • Media
      • ESA TV
      • Videos for professionals
      • Photos
    • For Educators

    • For Kids

    • ESA

    • ESA Science

    • Cassini-Huygens

    • Unique insights into a ringed world

      • Striking sights of a ringed world...
      • Solving the puzzles of Saturn and Titan
    • About Cassini-Huygens

      • Cassini-Huygens mission facts
      • The mission
      • Cassini spacecraft
      • Cassini instruments
      • Huygens spacecraft
      • Huygens instruments
      • The launcher
    • About Saturn

      • Facts about Saturn
      • Saturn's rings
      • Saturn's moons
      • Saturn's atmosphere
      • Saturn's magnetosphere
    • About Titan

      • Facts about Titan
      • Titan's atmosphere
      • Titan's surface
      • Life on Titan?
    • Meet the team

      • International collaboration
      • Huygens Mission Team
      • Cassini Project Team
      • ASI Programme Manager
      • Huygens investigators
      • Cassini orbiter investigators (1)
      • Cassini orbiter investigators (2)
    • Multimedia
    • Cassini-Huygens images
    • Cassini-Huygens videos
    • Services
    • Comments

    ESA > Our Activities > Space Science > Cassini-Huygens

    Huygens instruments

    The Huygens Probe en route to Titan

    To gather as much science as possible during its historic mission, the Huygens probe was equipped with six experiments.

    Aerosol Collector and Pyrolyser (ACP) collected aerosols for chemical-composition analysis. After extension of the sampling device, a pump draws the atmosphere through filters which captured aerosols. Each sampling device could collect about 30 micrograms of material.

    Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) took images and made spectral measurements using sensors covering a wide spectral range. A few hundred metres before impact, the instrument switched on its lamp in order to acquire spectra of the surface material.

    Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE) used radio signals to deduce atmospheric properties. The probe drift caused by winds in Titan's atmosphere induced a measurable Doppler shift in the carrier signal. The swinging motion of the probe beneath its parachute and other radio-signal-perturbing effects, such as atmospheric attenuation, were also detectable from the signal.

    Gas Chromatograph and Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) was a versatile gas chemical analyser designed to identify and quantify various atmospheric constituents. It was also equipped with gas samplers which could be filled at high altitude for analysis later in the descent.

    Huygens Atmosphere Structure Instrument (HASI) comprised sensors for measuring the physical and electrical properties of the atmosphere and an on-board microphone that sent back sounds from Titan.

    Surface Science Package (SSP) was a suite of sensors to determine the physical properties of the surface at the impact site and to provide unique information about its composition. The package included an accelerometer to measure the impact deceleration, and other sensors to measure the index of refraction, temperature, thermal conductivity, heat capacity, speed of sound, and dielectric constant of the (liquid) material at the impact site.

    Rate this

    Views

    Share

    • Currently 4.5 out of 5 Stars.
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    Rating: 4.4/5 (38 votes cast)

    Thank you for rating!

    You have already rated this page, you can only rate it once!

    Your rating has been changed, thanks for rating!

    13919
    Tweet
    • At Saturn and Titan
    • More about...
    • More on Cassini-Huygens spacecraft
    • More on Huygens instruments
    • Related articles
      • Life on Titan?
        • Christiaan Huygens: Discoverer of Titan
          • Jean-Dominique Cassini: Astrology to astronomy
          • Related links
          • NASA JPL Cassini-Huygens site
          • Italian Space Agency (ASI)
    • App Store
    • Subscribe
    • mobile version
    • FAQ

    • Site Map

    • Contacts

    • Terms and conditions