Blog Archive

Orange Titan in front of yellow Saturn, August 1, 2007

Titan, Dead or Alive? A Debate

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2012/05/02 10:32 CDT

A lively discussion and debate between planetary polymaths Ralph Lorenz and Jeffrey Moore about Titan, hosted by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, moderated by David Grinspoon.

Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki (PLANET-C)

Exciting Times Ahead: 2010 Will Sizzle, and 2011 Will Really Cook!

Posted by Alan Stern on 2009/05/18 03:56 CDT

Today, I'm kicking the week off with a look at the unusually intense confluence of far flung planetary exploration that's just around the corner, starting the middle of next year.

Analyzing the first published Huygens results

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/12/02 03:26 CST

I am working my way steadily through the seven Huygens papers that were released by Nature magazine Wednesday on their "Advance online publication" website.

An update on the Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/11/08 03:28 CST

While I was at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Cambridge in September I had a chance to chat with David Atkinson, who's a member of the Doppler Wind Experiment team on Huygens. They and the other instrument teams have been plugging away at analyzing their data.

Cassini-Huygens anniversary

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/07/01 04:07 CDT

In the midst of all this hoopla about Deep Impact, I haven't been able to give the proper attention to Cassini, which began its second year of operations at Saturn today.

News: Radio Astronomers Rescue Science Results for Huygens' Doppler Wind Experiment

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/02/09 10:00 CST

Earth's radio astronomers have saved the day for one of the Huygens instrument teams. Today, the Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE) team announced their first science results, despite losing nearly all of their expected data.

Huygens blog: "A dance party to Titan."

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/15 09:56 CST

Huygens blog: "It's impossible to resist the speculation."

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/15 07:31 CST

After a mere twelve hours of work, all six of the science teams on Huygens were able to report results this morning. You could easily tell the difference between the administrators and the scientists on this morning's press panel: the administrators looked bright, fresh, and well-rested, while the scientists looked decidedly weary.

Huygens landing day live blog

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/14 04:10 CST

A frequently updated blog with the tumultuous events of Huygens' landing on Titan.

Huygens blog: "This is probably not the best day to speculate."

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/13 12:00 CST

Anticipation here at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) is rising to a fever pitch. The full complement of more than a hundred scientists are here from all over Europe and the U.S.; they are running around, greeting each other, getting ready for the long-awaited data.

Huygens blog: It's going to be great!

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/12 09:45 CST

In two days, it'll all be over; for better or worse, Huygens will have hit the ground on Titan, and back on Earth we'll be waiting to see whether the data will be returned. Today, I arrived at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.