Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Cassini-Huygens Collection
Title:
Composite of Titan's Surface Seen During Descent
Description:
Composite of Titan's Surface Seen During Descent
Full Description:
This composite was produced from images returned yesterday, January 14, 2005, by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe during its successful descent to land on Titan. It shows a full 360-degree view around Huygens. The left-hand side, behind Huygens, shows a boundary between light and dark areas. The white streaks seen near this boundary could be ground 'fog,' as they were not immediately visible from higher altitudes.

As the probe descended, it drifted over a plateau (center of image) and was heading towards its landing site in a dark area (right). From the drift of the probe, the wind speed has been estimated at around 6-7 kilometers (about 4 miles) per hour.

These images were taken from an altitude of about 8 kilometers ( about 5 miles) with a resolution of about 20 meters (about 65 feet) per pixel. The images were taken by the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, one of two NASA instruments on the probe.

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 Cassini-Huygens 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. The Descent Imager/Spectral team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.n….

Credit: ESA/NASA/Univ. of Arizona
Date:
January 15, 2005
Keywords:
probe
Keywords:
spacecraft
Keywords:
orbiter
Keywords:
Titan
Keywords:
descent
Keywords:
imaging
Keywords:
coverage
facet_what:
Saturn
facet_what:
Cassini
facet_what:
Cassini-Huygens
facet_what:
Huygens Probe
facet_what:
Titan
facet_what:
Cassini Orbiter
facet_what:
Descent Imager
facet_what:
Imager
facet_what:
Spectral Radiometer
facet_where:
Saturn
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where:
California
facet_where:
Washington
facet_where:
Arizona
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_where:
Washington, D.C.
facet_when:
January 14, 2005
facet_when:
January 15, 2005
facet_when_year:
2005
UID:
SPD-SATRN-1311
original url:

Composite of Titan's Surface Seen During Descent