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Waiting for Titan - the human side of Huygens

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Waiting for Titan - the human side of Huygens

14 January 2005

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Principal Investigator for the Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument (HASI), Marcello Fulchignoni, and fellow HASI team member Francesca Ferri of the University of Padua, wait anxiously minutes before the carrier signal was received that confirmed Huygens had survived entry.

Fulchignoni is from the University of Paris/Observatoire de Paris-Meudon.

Credits: ESA

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A very excited Jean-Pierre Lebreton, ESA Mission Manager for Huygens, confirms that the 'carrier signal' has been received by the NRO Green Bank telescope, USA, which indicated that the probe may have survived its descent. He is holding a print-out of the radio signal.

Credits: ESA

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Marty Tomasko, Principal Investigator on the Huygens DISR camera instrument, monitors data in ESOC mission control room at the moment the first images were being received.

Credits: ESA

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Left to right, ESA's Director of Science, Prof. David Southwood, German Minister for Education and Research, Edelgard Bulmahn, NASA Associate Administrator for Science, Alphonso Diaz and ESA's Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain give the thumbs-up alongside a mock-up of Huygens on 14 January 2005.

Credits: ESA

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Huygens sets off with correct spin and speed Successful 'getaway' for Cassini How to drop in on Titan Surviving extreme conditions in space Observations: Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)What is 'red shift'?