Figure 1
The Cassini spacecraft snapped this image of the European Space Agency's
Huygens 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.nasa.gov and
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.
