Huygens on Titan
Posted by Prateek Tripathi on Wednesday, March 24, 2010
In 2005 the robotic Huygens probe landed on Titan, Saturn's enigmatic
moon, and sent back the first ever images from beneath Titan's thick
cloud layers. This artist's impression is based on those images. In the
foreground, sits the car-sized lander that sent back images for more
than 90
minutes before running out of battery power. The parachute that slowed
Huygen's re-entry is seen in the background, still attached to the
lander. Smooth stones, possibly containing water-ice, are strewn about
the landscape. Analyses of Huygen's images and data show that Titan's
surface today has intriguing similarities to the surface of the early
Earth. Image Credit: ESA