A lonely, silent
probe sitting on the frigid surface of Saturn’s moon Titan celebrated a
birthday of sorts this month.
It’s been
just over one year since Europe’s Huygens probe successfully landed
on Titan on Jan. 14, 2005, though the spacecraft’s batteries ran out long ago.
The Cassini
orbiter – a joint mission between NASA and the European and Italian space
agencies – carried Huygens toward its Titan descent.
Huygens’
Titan landing marked the most distant touchdown
of a human-built probe in our Solar System. During its parachute descent, the
spacecraft recorded sounds, photographed the shrouded moon’s surface and
sampled its thick atmosphere.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Credit:
ESA
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