ESA Declares Titan Probe Landing a Scientific Success

The joint European-American mission to Saturn's moon Titan concluded successfully on 14 January 2005, with the European Space Agency confirming that the Huygens probe had completed a two-and-a-half-hour parachute descent to the moon's surface.

ESA director-general Jean-Jacques Dordain addressed reporters in Darmstadt, Germany, calling the outcome "a fantastic success for Europe." Scientists were already tracking an incoming flow of data and expected preliminary results before the end of the day.

Huygens drifted down through Titan's atmosphere beneath a parachute, its instruments gathering readings on the moon's weather patterns and an atmosphere laden with methane, before reaching the surface.

The probe's signals were captured by the American Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn and relayed back to Earth. Cassini's role as a communications link was the key to recovering data from the descent.

Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in January 2005, in its own words.