XPost: sci.astro.amateur   
   From: henry@spsystems.net   
      
   In article ,   
   Glenn Mulno  wrote:   
   >However, as I understand it that is not really why they kept the life to   
   >only a few hours.  I think it had more to do with just getting it down   
   >safely, the weight of the probe on Cassini, cost, and probably just the   
   >general expectation that  conditions were not favorable to the life of the   
   >unit being long.   
      
   A long surface life would have required, at the very least, an RTG, which   
   would have run up the cost, mass, and various other complications quite a   
   bit.  Moreover, Huygens was planned and sold as primarily an *atmosphere*   
   mission -- even the camera (which is a US contribution, incidentally) was   
   optimized as much for cloud imaging and sunlight measurements as for   
   surface pictures.   
   --   
   "Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend."    |   Henry Spencer   
                                   -- George Herbert       | henry@spsystems.net   
      
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