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| | | | | | | | | Huygens parachutes onto Titan | |
Recipes for life
When ESA’s infrared space observatory ISO (1995-98) explored interstellar space, it found riches in the form of mineral grains fit to build rocky planets like the Earth, and water and carbon compounds appropriate for life. In 2004, ESA’s Huygens probe will parachute through the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, which may preserve, in deep freeze, chemical recipes of the kind that led to the emergence of life on the warmer Earth. Other clues to our origins come from primordial materials in comets. ESA’s Rosetta (due for launch in 2003) will spend many months examining Comet Wirtanen at close quarters, and analysing its chemical cargo.
Last update: 8 January 2001 | |
| | Related links ESA's ISO websiteESA's Huygens websiteESA's Rosetta website
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