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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NSS members awed by images of
Titan's shores
January 14, 2005 - The members of the National Space Society
have been waiting for this very moment for a long time, and now it
is here. After 20 years of effort and seven years of waiting, the
Huygens probe has landed on Titan, 900 million miles away,
rewarding scientists with spectacular pictures of a bizarre
terrain. This is the very first truly cryogenic world with
a solid surface that a probe from earth has landed on. The images
of potential shores are astounding. The "rocks" here may be made
out of ice, and any volcanoes might release water. All those who
worked on and then waited for results from Cassini and Huygens for
so many years should now be truly congratulated. This is one of the
most significant collaborations by international science ever
undertaken. Our horizons, minds and hearts have been widened
again.
John Strickland, an NSS board member from Austin Texas, provided
the following analysis of results so far:
No Science Results have yet been released to my
knowledge. At the very brief 5:00 EST press conference, 2 more
images were released at the conference and to the ESA Cassini Web
site. A couple of poorer quality additional raw images are
available on Space.com. No more images may be released today. The
web site: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/,
has image 3 at the top, image 1 in the middle, and image 2 at the
bottom.
The first image, taken at 10 miles, shows the drainage channels
previously mentioned. (This image may or may not be much higher
resolution than the second one taken at 5 miles. The web site gives
conflicting info.) The totally different scene leads us to think
the latter is true, or that wind has carried the probe over a
different area as it descended. The dark area at the right of the
image is probably not liquid, but simply the darker part of the
landscape surface. (The surface of the whole planet seems to be
divided into bright and dark areas.) Note that the channels are NOT
draining towards the dark area, but at 90 degrees or parallel to
it. It is clear that an area in the middle of the frame and next to
the dark region is a higher elevation area, since the channels are
draining away from it. No channel in the image seems to be crossing
or touching the dark area, so we cannot say if it is higher or
lower than the bright, channeled area. There are some lighter
channels closer to the dark area. The dark area seems to have some
texture on it, which could be more image compression artifacts, or
maybe frozen ethane or methane slush floating in a shallow puddle
of ethane. The areas most likely to have liquid are those which are
darkest. We seemed to see some channels in the radar images, which
indicates that a channel network could extend over large areas of
the surface. Next Question: What is the liquid, where does the
liquid come from and where does it end up? Why are the channels
dark? How wide and deep are they?
These bright and dark areas have fairly well defined sharp
edges, and often somewhat geometric (triangular or curving, as
shown in the second image, taken at 5 miles. These sharp edges are
what give the impression of a coastline or shoreline. In this
image, none of the drainage channels show at all. Perhaps, part of
one of the somewhat triangular bright areas is the area with the
channels. These may be similar to the same kind of shapes shown on
the radar. However, the current image are optical, not radar, and
rough areas would not necessarily be brighter.
In both of these images, there are specks which look like huge
boulders. These are camera artifacts caused by the fiber-optics of
the camera and lens system used in the Huygens probe, and will be
removed when the images are cleaned up more. The surface image (3)
seems to show none of them.
The third image gives us our first glimpse of the surface of
Titan from near or on the surface. Well, sorry, but I do not see
any cryogenic plants or animals in the picture! This does not rule
out microscopic cryogenic life, but it sure makes it a lot less
likely. What we do see are some rocks or large boulders. These are
probably made out of ice, which at minus 290 degrees F are as hard
and tough as granite. The foreground rocks are lighter in color
than the ones in the background, and also seem to be much more
rounded, as if they were large beach boulders. There is a smooth
rock-free zone between the two groups of rocks. There are very few
if any angular rocks, like pieces of limestone flagstones, with
straight edges. We have no idea how these rocks were formed and why
they are scattered on the surface. I see no sign of any body of
water in the direction the camera is pointed. (We should get a
complete panoramic view around the lander, since it apparently
survived for an extended time on the surface.) They have not said
if it would keep on taking images after it landed. It is also not
clear if this image is actually taken on the surface or about 10-20
feet above it.
More later this evening
John
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About the National Space Society:
The National Space Society (NSS) is an independent, grassroots
organization dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring
civilization. Founded in 1974, NSS is widely acknowledged as the
preeminent citizen's voice on space. NSS counts thousands of
members and over 50 chapters in the United States and around the
world. The society also publishes Ad Astra magazine, an
award-winning periodical chronicling the most important
developments in space. For more information about NSS, how to join
or donate, or the annual International Space Development
Conference, visit http://www.nss.org.
For More Information:
National Space Society
George Whitesides
Executive Director
Email: george@nss.org
Telephone: (202) 429-1600
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