Short-term data loss has not hindered analysis of the findings of the European Space Agency's Huygens Titan probe, and the moon of Saturn is now known to have a methane-based meteorology, with a history of fluid erosion of its landscape similar to that on Earth.
No information was lost, says ESA, although the reason why one of two data channels was not transmitted back from Cassini is unknown. The data, which concerned Titan's winds, is being reconstructed using Earth-based radio telescope observations of Huygens' transmissions.
European and US scientists involved have concluded that instead of liquid water, Titan has liquid methane and in place of Earth's silicate rocks, the moon has frozen water ice, which the volcanoes also eject.
Titan's soil has an icy crust and underneath is the consistency of loose sand. That sand consists of hydrocarbon particles that fall from the atmosphere on to the ground, the temperature of which is -180¼C (-292¡F). "We now have the key to understanding what shapes Titan's landscape," says Dr Martin Tomasko, principal investigator for Huygens' descent imager-spectral radiometer.
Source: Flight International
