Huygens Screw-Up

[Genghis]

Just when we thought they FINALLY had a space mission that went as planned. Remember that Huygens was going to measure wind speeds on Titan? Since Titan is the first world we've sent a probe to with an atmosphere capable of even having wind in the first place, this was a hugely important experiment:

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object ... longid=735

Well, it didn't happen. They forgot to turn it on! And after this poor bastard spent 18 years designing it:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... t_in_space

[JMEaT]

Wow... that's... just... damn.




Owned?

[Dedman]

Oops. That has to hurt.

[Zuruck]

ok, well that's what NASA gets for allowing ESA to build something for them. They forgot to have an uplink start code programmed in for the communication lines with Cassini and 18 years down the drain. These are the same people that lost their Mars rover. Why is NASA capable?

[Stryker]

"We do have Channel B data and although driven by a very poor and unstable oscillator, we may be able to get a little bit of data," he wrote.

Also, he said some of the Channel A signal reached Earth and was picked up by radio telescopes. "We now have some of this data and lots of work to do to try to catch up," he wrote.

Even so, he said the overall space mission was a huge success, and the Europeans in particular were thrilled with the success of their Huygens probe.

"In total, the core of our team has invested something like 80 man years on this experiment, 18 of which are mine," Atkinson wrote. "I think right now the key lesson is this â?? if you're looking for a job with instant and guaranteed success, this isn't it."

Sounds like they might be able to resurrect some of it--but sheesh, what can human stupidity NOT flub up?

[Iceman]

"In total, the core of our team has invested something like 80 man years on this experiment, 18 of which are mine"

Man that has to suck ...

[Tyranny]

I hate when people add up combined time into a figure and phrase like "80 man years". That bugs me. This is sad, but not completely unexpected what with the track record with some of these probes we send out.

[Scratch]

Man talk about a kick in the sack. Ouch!

[snoopy]

Murphey was a genius.

[Avder]

Way to go, Retards.

[Mobius]

Dudes, let's put this in perspective. The craft spent SEVEN YEARS IN TRANSIT. The entire time it was exposed to temperatures only just above 0 Kelvin, the full flux of cosmic rays, heavy radiation from the sun, and massive magnetic fields within the Saturnian system. That the craft survived at all is a testament to the amazing job those people did on designing, building and testing it.

I went to a lecture recently by the guy who spent 9 years designing and building the instrument on the bottom of the probe, which was only going to be of any use if the probe landed in liquid. You can imagine he's not overly happy that work went doen the toilet either!

FYI: to keep the electronics warm during the 7 year flight, the Huygens probe contains a little under 7 lbs of plutonium, literally bolted onto the electronics of the craft! The decaying plutonium provides enough heat to prvent the elctronics from freezing out. Of course, it's a double edged sword, because that radiation is added to the already massive doses the craft endured! (There's about 16lbs in total of plutonium in the whole cassini package, including the amount used in the RTGs - the electricity generators.)

The entire mission has been a huge success! The probe survived, and sent back fascinating data which gives us some insight into how the Earth might have appeared well before life evolved.

I think dwelling on any part of the mission which failed to deliver is a pessimistic and unhelpful attitude.

[Top Gun]

My God...I completely agree with Mobius. He's absolutely right, though; even without that one instrument, the images and other data that the probe has sent back are absolutely amazing and will require years of study and analysis. And, as the scientist himself said, "If you're looking for a job with instant and guaranteed success, this isn't it."

[Lothar]

well... and the 18 years (or the 9 to design the liquid probe) aren't a total loss. Those pieces of equipment didn't happen to get used on this mission (yet), but now that all those years of research have been done, the equipment is probably also included on other probes that have already launched and are going to other planets or moons, and will be included on more probes in the future.

It's not like seeing something you spent 18 years building explode. It's more like seeing the prototype of something you spent 18 years designing not work the first time because the battery died. It's not going to take another 18 years to build another one. The next one is probably already on its way to some other moon...

[roid]

this was a puny part of the mission. i don't really care how fast Titan's winds are, do you?
the pictures and everything else are sweet.

[Robo]

this was a puny part of the mission. i don't really care how fast Titan's winds are, do you?
the pictures and everything else are sweet.

I was thinking the same thing. I first thought "OMG, this could be something like half the cameras are dead!".. but no, it was "The windspeed guage is not working". Oh gosh, what a loss

[Gammaray]

There's about 16lbs in total of plutonium in the whole cassini package, including the amount used in the RTGs - the electricity generators.

Cool, so we weren't happy with just irradiating our own planet. Lets send some to a place we've never been before! :p

Honestly it really doesn't matter to me if we don't know what the windspeed is over yonder. Just getting pictures of something besides the HAZE was cool enough.
Combined with the fact that the probe didn't disintigrate upon entry says a lot for the accomplishment.

[Warlock]

y yall blameing NASA for the Huygens thang FYI they didnt build Huygens the UK did.

but i agree with mob to the stuff its sent back so far is amazing and im happy they sent the probe cause saturn is one of my fav planets