That Other Moon. (January 22, 2005)

    The landing on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, last week moved space exploration and science onto the front pages and prime TV news times.

Titan landscape showing a methane river system    

The American Physical Society's Bob Park makes an interesting comparison in his What's New column this week.

Last Friday, the reach of man extended 900 million miles to the surface of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.  It stands as one of the most notable voyages of exploration in history. Carried piggyback on Cassini since 1997, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe parachuted 789 miles to reach Titan's smoggy surface.  Huygens had the good fortune to land on solid ground, within sight of the shoreline of a hydrocarbon sea. Over the next several hours, until its batteries finally died, Huygens transmitted everything it had learned back to Cassini, which relayed it to Darmstadt.  The data will keep researchers busy for years.  Cassini will continue studying Saturn for another four years. 

   

Meanwhile, only 90 miles from the surface of Earth, the NASA On-Orbit Status Report notes that the ISS crew checked gear for a 26 Jan space walk, performed periodic microbial air sampling, did routine maintenance on the toilet facilities, performed a 2.5 hour exercise program, had an interview with USA Today and  recorded a video message in observance of the 250^th anniversary of Moscow  State University.

 

    Today's quiz: Which cost more, Cassini/Huygens or the ISS?

And for good measure.

VISION: LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER (LRO) SET FOR 2008. 
The first spacecraft built as part of President Bush's Vision for Space  Exploration, LRO is the first of a series of robot probes to pave the way  for human missions to the Moon.  That, if anyone remembers, was the mission  of Apollo 10 in 1969.  It makes good sense.  We wouldn't want to send humans  to some strange place.  Once we've learned everything there is to know about  the Moon, we can send astronauts to mug for the cameras.

Another Bush on another occasion had something to say about, "the vision thing". As Freud might have said, "there is vision and then there is having them."