It was worth waking up so early. Scanning the wires and websites, at first I found nothing. Nearly an hour after the scheduled confirmation time of the release. The probe should have been freed at 02:00 UTC (ie. 03:00 CET spacecraft times). With radio signals taking 1H08 to reach Earth, there should be notification by now… somewhere. (Just a brief mention on SpaceFlight Now but no details).
And as I search, my email ‘clings’ at 05:04 CET and I see the few words from a colleague: “Dear All, Everything worked well! Merry Christmas, Carolina”. Attached was the following communiqué from NASA-JPL.
“The European Space Agency’s Huygens probe successfully detached from NASA’s Cassini orbiter today to begin a three-week journey to Saturn’s moon Titan. NASA’s Deep Space Network tracking stations in Madrid, Spain and Goldstone, Calif., received the confirmation signal at 04:24 CET (7:24 p.m. PST). All systems performed as expected and there were no problems reported with the Cassini spacecraft.”
The Huygens probe, built and managed by the European Space Agency, was bolted to Cassini and has been riding along during the nearly seven-year journey to Saturn largely in a ‘sleep’ mode. Huygens will be the first human-made object to explore on-site the unique environment of Titan, whose chemistry is assumed to be very similar to that of early Earth before life formed. Huygens will tell us whether this assumption is correct.
“We wish to congratulate our European partners as their journey begins and wish them well on their descent to Titan,” said Robert T. Mitchell, Cassini program manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “We are very excited to see the probe off and to have accomplished this part of our job. Now we’re ready to finish our part – receiving and relaying the Huygens data back to Earth.”
“Today’s release is another successful milestone in the Cassini-Huygens odyssey,” said Dr.David Southwood, director of science programmes for the European Space Agency. “This was an amicable separation after seven years of living together. Our thanks to our partners at NASA for the lift. Each spacecraft will now continue on its own but we expect they’ll keep in touch to complete this amazing mission. Now all our hopes and expectations are focused on getting the first in-situ data from a new world we’ve been dreaming of exploring for decades.”
As I complete my webpage, further emails arrive. Across the Atlantic, ESA and NASA-JPL are sending themselves congratulations. To which are now added the Google alerts which start announcing the news. My page posted, I check the web again. SpaceFlight Now and my good friend (from Cassini launch days) CBS’s Bill Harwood have published a long article, well documented, serious but lively stuff. Then the BBC site headlines the release.
I go back under the blankets for some extra sleep before Father Xmas brings the parcels. But for me, and no doubt many of those involved in the mission, the successful release is probably the most precious present.
Updated/maj. 25-12-2004
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