The Cassini spacecraft carried the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe
to Saturn and released it in December 2004. The probe landed on Titan Jan.
14, 2005, acquiring a set of images using the descent imager/spectral radiometer
camera as it parachuted to the surface.
As Cassini continued to orbit Saturn, its imaging science subsystem and visual
and infrared mapping spectrometer mapped the region where the Huygens probe
landed. On Friday, Oct. 28, 2005, Cassini’s radar instrument provided the highest
resolution orbital data yet of this area.
The two images shown here tell the story. On the left, in color, is a composite of
the imaging camera and infrared data (red areas are brighter and blue darker, as
seen in infrared). On the right is the synthetic aperture radar image. The Huygens
descent images are shown inset on the left image and outlined in yellow on the
right. The magenta cross in both images shows the best estimate of the actual
Huygens landing site. This is a preliminary result, based on the best information
available at the present time.
In the left image, the brighter areas seen by the Huygens camera correspond to
the large area depicted in red and yellow. On closer inspection, bright features
within the Huygens mosaic seem to correspond to smaller features in the map
composed of data from the visual and infrared spectrometer and imaging camera.
On the right, the correspondence is less clear. In radar images bright features
are usually rougher, so one would not necessarily expect an obvious connection.
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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar
instrument team is based at JPL, working with team members from the United
States and several European countries. The visual and infrared mapping
spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. The imaging
operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder,
Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.
