Huygens Descent Onto Titan Countdown

[Pekka]

These are extremely inspiring.. just a while ago NASA went to Mars.. now ESA is pounding the podiums (you like, pounding the podium? I like..).

Before, if you were from Europe, interested in space, hey good luck NASA is your change to have a career.. but now, all of us have the same opportunity. Who knows.. maybe I'll apply for internship program

[Spiffor]

Pekka: You're aware the Cassini/Huygens program is a joint program of the NASA and ESA, don't you? We Euros built the probe, but the Yanks sent us there.

But I agree it feels much better that the Beagle2 debacle

[Pekka]

yeah I know it's a joint project. However, ESA plays a very significant role in it. It's no tin cans anymore. So, while NASA plays a big role in this too, I still feel this is more ESA. Why? Because, well, I feel like giving credit to the new kid on the block.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Pekka
yeah I know it's a joint project. However, ESA plays a very significant role in it. It's no tin cans anymore. So, while NASA plays a big role in this too, I still feel this is more ESA. Why? Because, well, I feel like giving credit to the new kid on the block.

[Pekka]

And it's great for both too, being able to pull this off like this. So it looks like NASA and ESA might be interested working together in the future if the experience has been a positive one. And that's only great, that's two Spaceonites working together.

[Pekka]

Plus I feel NASA can get the best partner from ESA when it continues to go on forward. Because it might be easier to work big projects with.. people on board who are closest to each other in all views and ways of life. And Europe can't sit back and look while others do all the work, it's just that simple, because when the new breakthroughs will come, and we start to have some concrete benefits from the space exploration, we need to have our stamp on it too. It's only fair.

What ever it is, what ever happens, what ever people say, we still have one thing connecting all the humans on this planet and it is that we have the same future. So I'm glad to see we're doing something to reveal that future as well and not be spectators and them come and exploit things and give no credit to others.

[child of Thor]

http://www.open2.net/astronomy/

I watched the first part at 11:30pm(GMT) on BBC2 last night.
If its still open you can post questions that the scientists involved in the mission will try to answer, its the link at the bottom left of the page.

Quite amazing really - 17years most of the guys in the project have been working on this project!

In the BBC2 tv broadcast , Dr.Athena Coustenis(A Titan specialist) had some quite interesting things to say about the potential for early forms of life on titan. Apparantly the building blocks are there, enough for carbon to form ealry examples of life including possibly DNA etc.
If there is anything it wont be on the surface though as its too cold, but there could be stuff under any 'sea' that exists(and that picture showing what looks like rivers or errosion of some kind and a coast could be a sea?).

exciting times

[Winston]

For those of you interested, a science results press briefing just started, streamed at NASA TV Webcast

[child of Thor]

cool

sounds from Titan awesome .......spooky

[Winston]

Yeah, they just played a sample recording of the atmospheric noise as the probe descented! Sounded like you were seated on top of a freight train at full speed with a horrific storm coming head on.

Amazing stuff.

[Dis]

I gotta admit, I'm a skeptic to spending all this money on space exploration, but this is pretty cool.

pictures like this remind me of home.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050116/D87KQU981.html

actually I'm not sure if this link has been posted, but I haven't seen the picture posted, so I posted it.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Dissident
I gotta admit, I'm a skeptic to spending all this money on space exploration, but this is pretty cool.

pictures like this remind me of home.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050116/D87KQU981.html

actually I'm not sure if this link has been posted, but I haven't seen the picture posted, so I posted it.

it's a bummer there's not a drop of any fluid of any kind whatsoever visible from any of the surface shots. The single surface shot that we keep seeing looks for all the world as if iit might have been snapped on venus or mars.

[The Mad Monk]

I am hearing a lot about how that isn't rock, it's ice, but on a world with average temps of -170C and a "hydrosphere" composed of nonpolar compounds, it's probably pretty damn rocklike in behavior, right down to "sandy" beaches on the shores of a methane sea.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
I am hearing a lot about how that isn't rock, it's ice, but on a world with average temps of -170C and a "hydrosphere" composed of nonpolar compounds, it's probably pretty damn rocklike in behavior, right down to "sandy" beaches on the shores of a methane sea.

'sand' of crushed super chilled non crystaline ice rather than silicon dioxide? I wonder how it would feel to walk around that kind of environment (thoroughly insulated from the lethal cold of course).

[The Mad Monk]

The first couple steps might be tricky, until the exterior of the suit chilled down to an equivalent temperature. Until then, it would be like tromping around in 2000C boots.