Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Cassini-Huygens Collection
Title:
Huygens Probe Release Zoom
Description:
Huygens Probe Release Zoom
Full Description:
A closer view of the Cassini image of the Huygens Probe after its successful release. The full image is available here.

Cassini snapped this image of the probe about 12 hours after its release from the orbiter. The probe successfully detached from Cassini on Dec. 24, 2004, and is on course for its January 14 encounter with Titan.

The Huygens probe will remain dormant until the onboard timer wakes it up just before the probe reaches Titan's upper atmosphere on Jan. 14, 2005.

Then it will begin a dramatic plunge through Titan's murky atmosphere, tasting its chemical makeup and composition as it descends to touch down on its surface. The data gathered during this 2-1/2 hour descent will be transmitted from the probe to the Cassini orbiter. Afterward, Cassini will point its antenna to Earth and relay the data through NASA's Deep Space Network to JPL and on to the European Space Agency's Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, which serves as the operations center for the Huygens probe mission.

From this control center, ESA engineers will be tracking the probe and scientists will be standing by to process the data from the probe's six instruments.

This image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera at a distance of 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the probe on Dec. 25, 2004. The image has been magnified and contrast enhanced to aid visibility.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.n…and http://www.nasa.gov….

*Credit*: NASA/JPL
Date:
December 25, 2004
Keywords:
probe
Keywords:
spacecraft
Keywords:
orbiter
Keywords:
Titan
Keywords:
descent
Keywords:
release
facet_what:
Saturn
facet_what:
Cassini
facet_what:
Cassini-Huygens
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Huygens Probe
facet_what:
Titan
facet_what:
Cassini Orbiter
facet_what:
Deep Space Network
facet_where:
Saturn
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where:
California
facet_where:
Washington
facet_where:
Germany
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_when:
December 25, 2004
facet_when_year:
2004
UID:
SPD-SATRN-1250
original url:

Huygens Probe Release Zoom