Huygens Probe Lands on Titan – First Image from Descent Released

The Hugens probe that piggy-backed to Saturn on the Cassini spacecraft has successfully landed on Titan and initial data indicates it has landed safely on a hard surface as opposed to making a splashdown. This ESA probe continued to send data for as least as long as Cassini was above the horizon.

NASA (who built the Cassini spacecraft) have put up a press release with the first raw image from the descent of Hugyens, though the image archive itself will be appearing here at the ESA’a website. However, connections to it are timing out at present.

Update: ESA now has that image too.

Here is that first Hugens image.

Huygens image from descent to Titan - Credit: ESA/NASA/University of Arizona

Credit: ESA/NASA/University of Arizona