Cassini lands on Titan Friday

[malden]

10:15 a.m. EST: Huygens is still pounding out a signal to the surprise of ESA engineers, but any science data it is currently transmitting is falling on deaf ears.

The Cassini orbiter, Huygens’ only connection to Earth, has turned away from the probe and is preparing to relay the probe’s data home, mission controllers said.

“The probe has been living for more than five hours,” said Huygens mission manager Jean-Pierre Lebreton. “But we knew at a certain time Cassini would have to stop recording.”

from this space.com link

Does anyone know why Cassini stopped listening to the probe and turned to transmit to Earth while Huygens was still sending up data from the surface? Can’t Cassini store everything Huygens transmits, then relay everything to Earth later today, after it drops below the horizon (from Huygens’ perspective)?

Can’t wait to see pictures!

[Small_Clanger]

From the timeline in the op

16.14 First data sent to Earth
Cassini first turns its high-gain antenna to point towards Earth and then sends the first packet of data.

Any minute now then? Or will it takes hours to send the data? “Live” BBC TV coverage doesn’t start until 11:30 this evening, can’t wait…

[Small_Clanger]

From the timeline in the op

16.14 First data sent to Earth
Cassini first turns its high-gain antenna to point towards Earth and then sends the first packet of data.

Any minute now then? Or will it takes hours to send the data? “Live” BBC TV coverage doesn’t start until 11:30 this evening, can’t wait…

[Maus_Magill]

@malden

from this space.com link

Does anyone know why Cassini stopped listening to the probe and turned to transmit to Earth while Huygens was still sending up data from the surface? Can’t Cassini store everything Huygens transmits, then relay everything to Earth later today, after it drops below the horizon (from Huygens’ perspective)?

That’s exactly what happened. Cassini passed below Huygens’ horizon about two hours after Huygens was to have landed. I don’t think anyone expected Huygens to have survived this long.

Can’t wait to see pictures!

It will be interesting, but I would imagine they would be rather dark, so I wonder if we’ll even see anything.

[malden]

Well, something just happened (11:16 AM Eastern Standard Time.) On the NASA channel’s streaming video, everyone started clapping and cheering. Other than that, it’s just been footage of people milling around, looking at terminals, and mumbling to each other.

I think the time is about right for the arrival of the first data.

[Small_Clanger]

@Maus Magill

I would imagine they would be rather dark, so I wonder if we’ll even see anything.

I think there are lights on the probe, it’s not reliant on ambient lighting.

[Grey]

2.5 hrs to get here from there I believe.

[Maus_Magill]

Stupid question for those more in the know:

Would it be possible to tune the VLA to Saturn and capture what Huygens is still transmitting?

[BobLibDem]

Good show, ESA and NASA! This mission is a great success story. I just hope the data from the surface comes back in good shape but this is a mission that mankind can be proud of.

[Eve]

And by next month all the aliens will be dressed like this!

[h.sapiens]

Did they deliberately time the Huygens landing for when Saturn is at opposition (that way the data gets back to earth as quick as possible)?

[Loopydude]

Huygens has landed in one piece.

[OtakuLoki]

@malden

from this space.com link

Does anyone know why Cassini stopped listening to the probe and turned to transmit to Earth while Huygens was still sending up data from the surface? Can’t Cassini store everything Huygens transmits, then relay everything to Earth later today, after it drops below the horizon (from Huygens’ perspective)?

Can’t wait to see pictures!

IIRC the original mission plan had expected Huygens to survive for maybe 30 minutes.

(Of course there are a number of space probes that have greatly exceeded expected mission lifetimes: Voyager, Pioneer, Opportunity, and Sojourner are just a few.)

[LordVor]

@malden

I think the time is about right for the arrival of the first data.

@Huygens

ALL OF THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT TITAN. ALL OF THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT TITAN. ALL OF THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT TITAN. ALL OF THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT TITAN…

-lv

[Colophon]

@Grey

2.5 hrs to get here from there I believe.

No - look at the timeline:

All times above are “Earth Received” time - i.e. 67 minutes after the actual events have taken place at the spacecraft.

In other words, it only takes just over an hour, and the times on the time line have been adjusted - so when it says:

16.14 First data sent to Earth

It actually means it was due to start sending at about 15.07, and the data should have started to arrive at 16.14.

That is Central European Time, which is GMT+1, so it is now about 19.09 CET.

[Colophon]

… and we have some data: ESA News Release

The first scientific data arrived at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, this afternoon at 17:19 CET

Only one hour and five minutes late - which almost makes me wonder if they did remember to correct those times on the original timeline…

[Cervaise]

According to the official mission site, the first images will be coming up in about thirty-five minutes.

—practically vibrating with happiness and excitement—

Actually, y’know, it’s astonishing to me that more people aren’t busting at the seams about this mission. Sure, the Cassini orbiter’s findings are intellectually thrilling in terms of astrophysics and chemistry and stuff, so I can understand why that doesn’t capture the mainstream’s interest beyond the pretty pictures; but Huygens is actually landing on one of the two most Earthlike bodies in the solar system (depending on your definitions) and will be returning not just pictures and measurements but audio. This is emotionally exciting, and that usually connects with a wider audience.

And yet if I were to ask my mother what she thought the Huygens mission would find, I suspect she’d stare at me like I just coughed up a ferret.

I just don’t get it.

[clayton_e]

A couple of questions about the single camera aboard:

• Is it able to rotate? It would kinda suck if the surface is rocky and it landed right in front of a boulder. And since direct control from earth is not possible due to the time it would take to send commands (and therefore is automatic) is the camera set up to take a photo, turn, then take another, then turn?

• Why are they saying the camera is going to send the first b/w photos soon with color photos to come later (that is, if I read the description of the camera correctly) if there is only one camera? I’m quite ignorant on the technical stuff, is it able to take smaller kb b/w photos first in case it fails after only a few minutes then go with color when it has time later?

• Will they release photos immedietly? I’m sure there must be some form of editing/splicing necessary, but would they release raw images right away?

and yes, I am interested in the non-photo parts of the mission as well… but its worth a thousand words and all… THAT AND SEEING A PHOTO OF IT WOULD BE COOL!!!

[koeeoaddi]

@Liberal

Noooo! All will go well, and we will see an ice critter (or a nice critter) peering into the lens.

A harmonium, maybe?

::crosses fingers::

[Captain_Lance_Murdoch]

@malden

Does anyone know why Cassini stopped listening to the probe and turned to transmit to Earth while Huygens was still sending up data from the surface? Can’t Cassini store everything Huygens transmits, then relay everything to Earth later today, after it drops below the horizon (from Huygens’ perspective)?

Actually, Cassini did collect data until it went beyond the horizon at which point it turned toward the Earth to send us the data. Apparently, everything is working as planned.