Thursday, January 27, 2005

Why is There Air?: Huygens on Titan

Yeah, we all like the pretty pictures, but we'd also like to get some real news. On the ESA site there is a press kit (outdated) and a bunch of "gosh-wow" articles, but there is no science data.

I wanted to know what the observed temperature ranges have been recorded: not there.
Why did I want to know this? At -170 to -180 with the right pressure, Methane would exist at its triple point (the point at which it can freely convert into the three main states). [Methane (11.696 Pa).] I have yet to see what the pressure at Huygens location has been measured at.

There was an article on the 21st that mentioned this, almost. The heat generated by the decent was residually held by Huygens when it landed. It was warm enough to steam the methane.

In the same article, they say they've interpreted the data to allow for methane-based evaporation cycles. This brings me to the beginning of my real quest for information: If the probe is sitting on what appears to be a shoreline, in what appears to be a gully-wash, what happens the next time it rains? This thing may be 349 kilos, but that is a lot less than a car and cars get carried away in floods all the time. Are we going to see another successful failure in the near future?

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