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A soft solid surface on Titan as revealed by the Huygens Surface Science Package

A soft solid surface on Titan as revealed by the Huygens Surface Science Package
A soft solid surface on Titan as revealed by the Huygens Surface Science Package
The surface of Saturn's largest satellite —Titan — is largely obscured by an optically thick atmospheric haze, and so its nature has been the subject of considerable speculation and discussion1. The Huygens probe entered Titan's atmosphere on 14 January 2005 and descended to the surface using a parachute system2. Here we report measurements made just above and on the surface of Titan by the Huygens Surface Science Package3, 4. Acoustic sounding over the last 90 m above the surface reveals a relatively smooth, but not completely flat, surface surrounding the landing site. Penetrometry and accelerometry measurements during the probe impact event reveal that the surface was neither hard (like solid ice) nor very compressible (like a blanket of fluffy aerosol); rather, the Huygens probe landed on a relatively soft solid surface whose properties are analogous to wet clay, lightly packed snow and wet or dry sand. The probe settled gradually by a few millimetres after landing.
0028-0836
792-795
Zarnecki, John C.
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Leese, Mark R.
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Hathi, Brijen
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Ball, Andrew J.
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Hagermann, Axel
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Towner, Martin C.
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Lorenz, Ralph D.
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McDonnell, J. Anthony M.
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Green, Simon F.
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Patel, Manish R.
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Ringrose, Timothy J.
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Rosenberg, Philip D.
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Atkinson, Karl R.
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Paton, Mark D.
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Banaszkiewicz, Marek
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Clark, Benton C.
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Ferri, Francesca
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Fulchignoni, Marcello
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Ghafoor, Nadeem A.L.
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Kargl, Günter
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Svedhem, Håkan
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Delderfield, John
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Grande, Manuel
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Parker, David J.
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Challenor, Peter G.
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Geake, John E.
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Zarnecki, John C.
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Leese, Mark R.
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Hathi, Brijen
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Ball, Andrew J.
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Hagermann, Axel
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Towner, Martin C.
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Lorenz, Ralph D.
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McDonnell, J. Anthony M.
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Green, Simon F.
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Patel, Manish R.
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Ringrose, Timothy J.
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Rosenberg, Philip D.
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Atkinson, Karl R.
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Paton, Mark D.
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Banaszkiewicz, Marek
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Clark, Benton C.
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Ferri, Francesca
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Fulchignoni, Marcello
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Ghafoor, Nadeem A.L.
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Kargl, Günter
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Svedhem, Håkan
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Delderfield, John
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Grande, Manuel
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Parker, David J.
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Challenor, Peter G.
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Geake, John E.
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Zarnecki, John C., Leese, Mark R., Hathi, Brijen, Ball, Andrew J., Hagermann, Axel, Towner, Martin C., Lorenz, Ralph D., McDonnell, J. Anthony M., Green, Simon F., Patel, Manish R., Ringrose, Timothy J., Rosenberg, Philip D., Atkinson, Karl R., Paton, Mark D., Banaszkiewicz, Marek, Clark, Benton C., Ferri, Francesca, Fulchignoni, Marcello, Ghafoor, Nadeem A.L., Kargl, Günter, Svedhem, Håkan, Delderfield, John, Grande, Manuel, Parker, David J., Challenor, Peter G. and Geake, John E. (2005) A soft solid surface on Titan as revealed by the Huygens Surface Science Package. Nature, 438 (7069), 792-795. (doi:10.1038/nature04211).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The surface of Saturn's largest satellite —Titan — is largely obscured by an optically thick atmospheric haze, and so its nature has been the subject of considerable speculation and discussion1. The Huygens probe entered Titan's atmosphere on 14 January 2005 and descended to the surface using a parachute system2. Here we report measurements made just above and on the surface of Titan by the Huygens Surface Science Package3, 4. Acoustic sounding over the last 90 m above the surface reveals a relatively smooth, but not completely flat, surface surrounding the landing site. Penetrometry and accelerometry measurements during the probe impact event reveal that the surface was neither hard (like solid ice) nor very compressible (like a blanket of fluffy aerosol); rather, the Huygens probe landed on a relatively soft solid surface whose properties are analogous to wet clay, lightly packed snow and wet or dry sand. The probe settled gradually by a few millimetres after landing.

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Published date: 8 December 2005

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 20381
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/20381
ISSN: 0028-0836
PURE UUID: ee8f0c8c-f3c1-4ad6-a041-20fc65789b78

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Date deposited: 23 Feb 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:24

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Contributors

Author: John C. Zarnecki
Author: Mark R. Leese
Author: Brijen Hathi
Author: Andrew J. Ball
Author: Axel Hagermann
Author: Martin C. Towner
Author: Ralph D. Lorenz
Author: J. Anthony M. McDonnell
Author: Simon F. Green
Author: Manish R. Patel
Author: Timothy J. Ringrose
Author: Philip D. Rosenberg
Author: Karl R. Atkinson
Author: Mark D. Paton
Author: Marek Banaszkiewicz
Author: Benton C. Clark
Author: Francesca Ferri
Author: Marcello Fulchignoni
Author: Nadeem A.L. Ghafoor
Author: Günter Kargl
Author: Håkan Svedhem
Author: John Delderfield
Author: Manuel Grande
Author: David J. Parker
Author: Peter G. Challenor
Author: John E. Geake

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