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Successful Huygens test: last before separation

Cassini-Huygens in orbit around Saturn

23 November 2004
ESA’s Huygens probe, now orbiting Saturn on board the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft, is in good health and successfully passed its sixteenth 'In-Flight Checkout' today.

This in-flight checkout procedure was the last one planned before separation of the Huygens probe from Cassini in December this year. The preliminary analysis of the real-time data received showed all events in the check-out procedure occurred as, and when, expected.

The procedure was carried out live, with Cassini transmitting the data to Earth in real-time. However the data arrived on Earth with a delay of one hour and 10 minutes as this is the time taken for light, and therefore radio signals, to travel the distance between Saturn and Earth.

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