Cassini probe at Saturn... (warning -- large images!)

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Yay, a promo video!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Man, I can't see anything. Crap. :(

― Yr3k (dymaxia), Friday, 14 January 2005 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh wait, here we go...a very proper German is saying something proper.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't want to see people applauding an image, I want the image!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Whoa -- okay, that first one is already sweet! Rivers and maybe an ocean!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Fucking fuck, though, the talking head hoohah is lame. The dude speaking French is cool, though.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Dudes, I should say.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, that's it for now, but I believe there will be a further report in two hours time. Darn, I'll be on the desk again! Oh well, at least I'll see some video.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/TECH/space/01/14/huygens.titan/top.main.titan.shoreline.jpg

― Dominique (dleone), Friday, 14 January 2005 20:05 (twenty-one years ago)

On the ground:

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/cassini_huygens/huygens_land/landing_01_H.jpg

Higher up than the midrange shot:

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/cassini_huygens/huygens_land/landing_02_H.jpg

More photos and reports soon.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 January 2005 21:53 (twenty-one years ago)

JPL's site is getting swamped at the moment, but http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html is OK

― Gator Magoon (Chris Barrus), Friday, 14 January 2005 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Listen to Titan! Specifically the atmosphere, more details here.

A 360 view from about 8 kilometers up.

A smaller section of same:

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/cassini_huygens/huygens_land/Picture2.jpg

And the first color ground image.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 January 2005 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Sounds of an alien world (sort of).

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 15 January 2005 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

But but but I just linked that page!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 15 January 2005 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh. Duh. Sorry.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 15 January 2005 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

if there isn't a tangerine sea and marmalade sky in these photos I am gonna be so disappointed

I guess you can say you weren't disappointed!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 17 January 2005 04:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, first press conference held about going over the findings, more here.

Another view of that 'coastline' area:

ihttp://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/cassini_huygens/huygens_land/press_release_050120/HRICoastLineMoasic_H.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 21 January 2005 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

human exploration at this level is so cool.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 21 January 2005 15:50 (twenty-one years ago)

In other news, an experiment on Huygens that a scientist spent 18 years working on was forgotten about and never turned on.

― Gator Magoon (Chris Barrus), Friday, 21 January 2005 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh MAN.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 21 January 2005 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Whoa. That second .mp3 gave me a headache. That would make a great psychological terror instrument.

― Yr3k (dymaxia), Friday, 21 January 2005 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost - Still, given the circumstances, this is as reasonable a self-consolation as any:

"In total, the core of our team has invested something like 80 man years on this experiment, 18 of which are mine," Atkinson wrote. "I think right now the key lesson is this — if you're looking for a job with instant and guaranteed success, this isn't it."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 21 January 2005 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

Titan!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/sci_nat_enl_1108646012/img/1.jpg

The 440km-wide circular feature resembles a large crater or part of a ringed basin, either of which could have been formed when a comet or asteroid tens of km in size slammed into Titan. This is the first impact feature identified in radar images of Titan. (Image: Nasa/JPL)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 17 February 2005 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

eight months pass...

This movie of the approach to/from Dione is incredible:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/video-details.cfm?videoID=99

― Lingbertt, Wednesday, 19 October 2005 06:17 (twenty years ago)

Incredible is right. That is genuinely astonishing.

― Bill A (Bill A), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 09:12 (twenty years ago)

UK people: Horizon tonight, 9pm, BBC2.

― robster (robster), Thursday, 20 October 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

Damn.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0505/saturnplane_cassini.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

More recently.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/sci_nat_enl_1132146654/img/1.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 19:23 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Oceans on Enceladus, perhaps. Another report here. It's big stuff...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 11 March 2006 02:22 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

A Huygens descent movie has been made available, along with new Titan images:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/videothumbnails/images/IMG002117-br402.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:00 (twenty years ago)

DUNE...

...s on the surface.

― DOQQUN (donut), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:11 (twenty years ago)

neat!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:17 (twenty years ago)

METHANE RAIN

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:17 (twenty years ago)

A Secret Report From Within the Guild

Titan's all cold and stuff!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:18 (twenty years ago)

haha
REALLY COLD!

I was kind of disappointed about "earth-like" comparisons in the narrative. Dudes, it's METHANE RAIN and -180 degrees. It ain't earth. (OR IS IT??)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:28 (twenty years ago)

How dare you be critical of the off-world colonies.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:29 (twenty years ago)

don't make me start talking about Battlestar Galactica.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Dudes, it's METHANE RAIN and -180 degrees. It ain't earth. (OR IS IT??)

It's ROCHESTER, NY!

― DOQQUN (donut), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:30 (twenty years ago)

NOIZEMOON

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 May 2006 20:10 (twenty years ago)

Ooh pretty. Good of Penn Jillette to do the narration too.

― robster (robster), Friday, 5 May 2006 21:41 (twenty years ago)

nine months pass...

a movie of cassini crossing the ring plane

― Lingbert, Saturday, 3 March 2007 19:38 (nineteen years ago)

four months pass...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6908190.stm

another moon, only 2km in diam. are these really worth classing as moons i ask yer. Aren't they just spin-offs from the ring of rocks?

― Ste, Friday, 20 July 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

Well but they're special rocks.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 21 July 2007 00:24 (eighteen years ago)

special as in olympics?

― StanM, Saturday, 21 July 2007 00:25 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

Images coming in from yesterday's close flyby of Iapetus

http://www.planetary.org/image/iapetus_cassini_20070910_SATUSHINE001_PRIME_colormos_lg.jpg

― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 00:05 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.planetary.org/image/iapetus_cassini_20070910_ICYMAP003_UVIS_mosaic_regan_lg.jpg

― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 00:06 (eighteen years ago)

these are kind of creepy.

― 31g, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 02:40 (eighteen years ago)

six months pass...

More evidence for Titan having a subsurface ocean

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 21 March 2008 03:45 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

Late late mission barnstorming over Saturn

Although the first mission extension for Cassini hasn't officially been approved yet by NASA Headquarters (which strikes me as being kind of silly, since the primary mission comes to a close in less than two months!!), the mission is already trying to figure out what to do beyond the two-year proposed Extended Mission. Last week there was a meeting of the Outer Planets Assessment Group, and Cassini's Deputy Project Scientist, Linda Spilker, gave a presentation on what to expect from the extended missions (here it is, in PDF format, well worth a look). There was a lot of stuff about the science to be expected from the extended mission, and a proposal for an extended-extended mission, but the real stunner was a scenario she presented for Cassini's end-of-life: to spend the very, very last phase of the mission in an orbit that threads Cassini between Saturn's cloud tops and the innermost D ring.
Folks, the gap between Saturn and the D ring is only about 3,000 kilometers wide. I suppose for a mission to a place like Mars, 3,000 kilometers of leeway is quite a lot. But Saturn is 120,000 kilometers across, and the main ring system extends another 60,000 kilometers or so above Saturn; Cassini would have to do an orbital maneuver to majorly drop its periapsis (closest approach point) to right in between the planet and its rings, leaping over the main ring system in the process. The idea seems totally crazy.

― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 13 April 2008 02:30 (eighteen years ago)

Crazy... and AWESOME

― Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved, Sunday, 13 April 2008 02:49 (eighteen years ago)

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