On 14 January 2005, ESA’s Huygens interplanetary probe descended on Titan’s atmosphere and landed on its surface, gathering important scientific data and marking mankind’s first successful attempt to land a probe on another world in the outer Solar System. The probe had detached itself a few days earlier form NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.
To commemorate the fifth anniversary of this historical achievement, a public session will discuss the main scientific and engineering achievements of Huygens, expectations for the Cassini mission, and objectives for future missions to Titan.
Entrance is free on 14 January 2010 at 18:00 at CosmoCaixa in Barcelona, as part of a 3-day international meeting on the Cassini-Huygens mission. Access will be limited, on a first come first serve basis.
One of the main reasons for sending Huygens to Titan was that its nitrogen atmosphere, rich in methane, and its surface are believed to contain many chemicals of the kind that existed on the young Earth. Combined with the Cassini observations, Huygens offers an unprecedented view of Saturn’s mysterious moon.
The 3-day international meeting is organized by the City of Barcelona in collaboration with the Fabra Observatory, ESA, NASA, the Spanish Research Council CSIC, the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the La Caixa Foundation.
CosmoCaixa is close to the Fabra Observatory, from where Titan's atmosphere was observed for the first time in 1907 by Josep Comas i Solà, with a telescope still in activity today.
Source: www.ctae.org
No comments:
Post a Comment