Success on Titan!

[Steve]

Fantastic, indeed! (http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/14/huygens.titan/index.html) We humans have just got to explore, don't we? It's amazing, when you think about it, how far our technology has progressed since the early days of the Industrial Revolution's beginnings in England. A scant 200 years and we're taking pictures of the surface of one of Saturn's moons.

Fantastic!

[Swamp Fox]

I can hardly wait to see what those boulders are. I predict that, if not on Titan, then on Mars or Europa, we will get a picture of a tentacle or an image of a miniature fossil - then we will truly understand how wonderful this universe is.

[Coot]

The geologic features were likely carved by a flowing liquid, but not water. Liquid hydrocarbons such as methane or ethane are believed to cover at least part of the surface. So basically, it's a bigass gas station. ;)

[Piobaireachd]

Fantastic, indeed! (http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/14/huygens.titan/index.html) We humans have just got to explore, don't we? It's amazing, when you think about it, how far our technology has progressed since the early days of the Industrial Revolution's beginnings in England. A scant 200 years and we're taking pictures of the surface of one of Saturn's moons.

Fantastic!
Our future is out there. We need to colonize space NOW. I was hoping we would be much farther by now. I thought, in the early 1970's, that we would at least have a lunar base by now.

[LissaKay]

Along with scientific instruments that measure the components of Titan's atmosphere, Huygens carried a sound recorder and lamp to look for signs of surface liquid.

One reading from an instrument protruding from the front of the saucer-shaped craft to gauge how deeply it penetrated upon impact suggested that the moon's surface was the consistency of wet sand or clay.

"We think this is a material which may have a thin crust, followed by a region of relatively uniform consistency," John Zarnecki, the scientist in charge of experiments on Titan's surface said at a televised news conference from the control center in Germany.

Zarnecki said one of his colleagues had suggested another analogy: creme brulee. "But I don't suppose that will be appearing in any of our papers," he said.


:thumbsup:

It looks like we are going to be getting a lot of interesting information from these discoveries. However exciting and progressive this is, I can't help but be a little concerned about the vast amounts of money being spent on this ... when we have so much need down here. On the other hand, who knows where this kind of exploration will lead?

Tis a quandary ...

[Piobaireachd]

:thumbsup:

It looks like we are going to be getting a lot of interesting information from these discoveries. However exciting and progressive this is, I can't help but be a little concerned about the vast amounts of money being spent on this ... when we have so much need down here. On the other hand, who knows where this kind of exploration will lead?

Tis a quandary ...
I believe the technological advances that we receive because of the space program (and military research) will have a profound impact on the problems that we have down here.

[SixofNine]

Titan is covered in smog. How has the U.S. managed to avoid the blame for this? rofl

Brian

[Piobaireachd]

Titan is covered in smog. How has the U.S. managed to avoid the blame for this? rofl

Brian
I believe it has something to do with us not ratifying the Kyoto agreement. :)

[MorWired]

Our future is out there. We need to colonize space NOW. I was hoping we would be much farther by now. I thought, in the early 1970's, that we would at least have a lunar base by now.I guess you missed the memo about Space:1999 getting cancelled, huh? :P

It's a great achievement, let's hope it will yield all sorts of amazing data that we hadn't even imagined.

[ditch]

Well I don't think these are going to make it on to eTunes downlaod list but its fascinating just the same to hear, sort of, sounds from out there.

Audio from Huygens. (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEM85Q71Y3E_0.html)

This pic of Saturn's rings was taken last month by Huygens. The detail is wonderful. (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06563)

Or better, try this. (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06563)

Sorry folks, ignore those last two links. They don't do what they should be doing.

[ditch]

Try this instead.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=1288

[joseftu]

All hail the European Space Agency!
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom:
You guys ROCK!!!

[Piobaireachd]

I thought I heard a voice on the acoustic sound clip that said "My God, it's full of stars!" ;)

[Steve]

It's good to see you again, Dave......

[archidante]

So basically, it's a bigass gas station. ;)
Yep. Major resource. :):happy: