Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Let's be optimistic

Will seeing entry prove "success"?

I hope they see the glow too, but won't that just show that Huygens succeeded in hitting Titan, as opposed to it actually suriviving and functioning?

Actually, one unfortunate thing about the Huygens plan is we don't get a first transmission from it to Cassini until after entry and it ditches the heat shield. So if we never get a signal, we won't know if it just never turned on, if it burned up, or what. Given all the constraints I can understand them not including trasmission all through the sequence, but will add to the frustration if we don't hear from Huygens.

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