XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.astro   
   From: owen@gwynnefamily.org.uk   
      
   "dexx"  wrote in message   
   news:1105885111.638247.89710@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...   
   > 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.   
   >   
      
   There is also the issue that transmission had to be relayed via the   
   Cassini spacecraft - meaning that Cassini had to be close to Titan and   
   also had to be above the horizon as fas as Huygen is concerned   
      
   If you have a look at the animation applet on the ESA website   
   http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMD6E2VQUD_0.html   
   you can see that Cassini's path isn't really favourable for that.   
      
   I reckon the 'above the horizon' condition won't be met for almost 2   
   weeks, by which time Cassini will be about 2 million miles from Titan.   
   The next Titan flyby isn't until 15th Feb.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)