Weblog from Darmstadt Covers Huygens

by | Jan 13, 2005 | Outer Solar System

The Planetary Society’s Emily Lakdawalla is covering Huygens events from Darmstadt here. From her latest post:

Another item that was news to me came from Marty Tomasko, the University of Arizona researcher who heads the Descent Imager Spectral Radiometer team (that’s the main camera on Huygens). His last images are expected to come from about 150 meters off the ground. But, if Huygens survives the landing, DISR could still take pictures. What’s cool about that is if Huygens lands in a liquid, it would be taking pictures through that liquid, seeing what’s suspended in it. But I’ve been taking an informal poll of the science team to find out what they think they will land on, and no one has predicted liquid. The predictions range from “icy” to “squelchy” (the latter is how Surface Science Package investigator John Zarnecki described it ). After a few of these questions during the press briefing, Tomasko finally said, “This is probably not the best day to speculate. Probably you should save that question for 36 hours, and then we’ll have a much better answer to give you.”

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In Centauri Dreams, Paul Gilster looks at peer-reviewed research on deep space exploration, with an eye toward interstellar possibilities. For many years this site coordinated its efforts with the Tau Zero Foundation. It now serves as an independent forum for deep space news and ideas. In the logo above, the leftmost star is Alpha Centauri, a triple system closer than any other star, and a primary target for early interstellar probes. To its right is Beta Centauri (not a part of the Alpha Centauri system), with Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon Crucis, stars in the Southern Cross, visible at the far right (image courtesy of Marco Lorenzi).

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