XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.astro   
   From: john@johnweeks.com   
      
   In article <1105885111.638247.89710@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,   
    "dexx"  wrote:   
      
   > Is it true that Huygens ceased transmission less than 2 hours after   
   > touchdown? Whilst it was a magnificent achievement to travel so far and   
   > land perfectly, it seems a great shame that the probe was so short   
   > lived.  I'm suprised the designers didnt make it rugged enough and   
   > powered enough to survive several days.   
      
   You need to understand the mission a little more.  The probe   
   was designed to measure the atmosphere on Titan.  The landing   
   part was a bonus.  The probe ran on batteries.  Batteries only   
   last so long, especially in the cold.  To make the probe run   
   much longer, it would have required an RTG (nuclear battery).   
   That would have made the probe far heavier, causing all kinds   
   of mission compromises from launch, number of instruments,   
   and its chances of survival coming through the atmosphere.   
   Next, the probe only had so much power, so it needed the   
   Cassini to record the data and retransmit it back to earth.   
   Cassini was moving, and it was out of view of the probe   
   within 2 hours of the probe landing.  There was no easy way   
   to keep Cassini in view of Titan for much longer without   
   totally redesigning the Saturn mission.  As it is, the probe   
   worked great and proved the technology.  There isn't too   
   much more the Cassini/Huygens team could have gotten without   
   doing a much more complex mission that would have sampled   
   the surface looking for life.  Maybe next time.   
      
   -john-   
      
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   John A. Weeks III           952-432-2708            john@johnweeks.com   
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