Huygens

A joint endeavour of ESA, NASA and Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Cassini-Huygens is an extremely sophisticated spacecraft, completing a study of the Saturnian system in unprecedented detail. The major contribution from ESA to the mission was a scientific probe called Huygens, which was released from the main spacecraft to parachute through the atmosphere and on to the surface of Saturn's largest moon: Titan. Huygens successfully landed on Titan at around 11:30 UTC 14 January 2005, the first landing to take place in the outer Solar System and the furthest from Earth. Cassini-Huygens was launched on a Titan IV-B/Centaur launch vehicle on 15 October 1997. Data from the HUYGENS descent and landing has been available in the PSA since August 2006.

Huygens is part of the international Cassini-Huygens mission. The full Cassini data holdings, including a copy of the Huygens data are also archived at NASA's PDS Atmospheres Node. Access to the full Cassini-Huygens holdings at the PDS Atmospheres Node can be found here.

Huygens Probe Instruments

ACP

Aerosol Collector and Pyrolyzer

ACP was designed to collect aerosols for chemical composition analysis. The instrument is equipped with one deployable sampling device which operated twice in order to collect aerosols in two layers.

DISR

Descent Imager Spectral Radiometer

DISR was used to take images and make spectral measurements using several sensors covering a wide spectral range from the ultraviolet to the infrared. The DISR measured both the upward and downward heat fluxes on Titan.

DTWG

Descent Trajectory Working Group

Probe descent trajectory and attitude reconstruction from the probe and orbiter science and engineering data. The DTWG provides a single, common descent profile for analysis of experiment measurements, and correlation of results between experiments.

DWE

Doppler Wind Experiment

A high-precision tracking investigation to determine wind directions and magnitudes in Titan's atmosphere during the descent, using two ultra stable oscillators (USOs), one on the probe and one on the Cassini orbiter.

GCMS

Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer

Investigation of the chemical composition of Titan's atmosphere and determination of the isotope ratios of its major gaseous constituents. GCMS also analysed samples from the Aerosol Collector Pyrolyser (ACP) and several candidate surface materials.

HASI

Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument

A multi-sensor package designed to measure the physical quantities characterising Titan's atmosphere. HASI included: accelerometers (ACC); a deployable booms system (DBS); temperature sensors (STUB), and pressure and acoustic sensors.

HUYGENS_HK

Huygens Housekeeping Data

This dataset contains housekeeping (engineering) data obtained by the Huygens probe during its mission on 14 January 2005.

SSP

Surface Science Package

A suite of sensors including an accelerometer, tilt sensors, a thermal properties assembly, acoustic properties sensors, and instrumentation to measure fluid permittivity, density and refractive index. SSP was designed to ascertain the composition and physical properties of Titan's surface at the impact site.

 

Data Access

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Huygens Probe Data