[extropy-chat] FWD (SK) Re: Yes!! Huygens is on Titan

[Terry W. Colvin]

From: "Trev" wrote:
>
> It's certainly amazing to think of a spacecraft landing on something so far
> away

IMO it's an astounding engineering as well as scientific feat.  The whole
thing appears to have been virtually flawless, this being especially
impressive since it was a first (and only) attempt.  The sad part is we will
not likely see a followup for many years especially now that Dubya has his
heart set on exorbitant low return stuff like the manned Mars & Moon
mission.  If I were King, I would can the manned flights, including the ISS,
and concentrate on what NASA (and everyone else) does best.

and no doubt scientists are going to be busy interpreting data from it
> for a while but a couple of things puzzle. What was the point of a
> microphone, and why didn't they put a video camera on the thing?

The microphone was to listen for noise in Titan's atmosphere such as from
possible nearby thunder storms or howling winds.  I listened to the playback
but it was quite uneventful (a kind of roaring noise which I guess was
simply microphone noise from passage through the atmosphere).  I assume a
video camera (as opposed to a still camera) was not used due to bandwidth
limitations and the likelihood that better images can be obtained with a
still camera especially considering the low light level at Titan.


-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
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