This event took place on 31st January 2005 at 3:30pm (15:30 GMT)
Berrill Lecture Theatre, The Open University, Walton Hall Campus, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
After an interplanetary journey of 7 1/4 years, the European Space Agency's probe Huygens landed on the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, having been released from NASA's Cassini spacecraft last Christmas Day. Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury, is the only planetary satellite in the entire Solar System to possess a significant atmosphere. Most interestingly, it appears that Titan's atmosphere is the site of a whole range of chemical reactions which produce increasingly complex hydrocarbon molecules. Similar reactions in Earth's early atmosphere over 4 billion years ago led to the conditions under which simple life evolved. The journey of the Huygens probe will be described as well as its final dramatic plunge to the surface. Very early results will be presented with emphasis on The Open University's contribution.
After an interplanetary journey of 7 1/4 years, the European Space Agency's probe Huygens landed on the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, having been released from NASA's Cassini spacecraft last Christmas Day. Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury, is the only planetary satellite in the entire Solar System to possess a significant atmosphere. Most interestingly, it appears that Titan's atmosphere is the site of a whole range of chemical reactions which produce increasingly complex hydrocarbon molecules. Similar reactions in Earth's early atmosphere over 4 billion years ago led to the conditions under which simple life evolved. The journey of the Huygens probe will be described as well as its final dramatic plunge to the surface. Very early results will be presented with emphasis on The Open University's contribution.
Click below to play the event (90 minutes)
