Watch the real video of the probe's descent to Titan (more than 1.3 billion kilometers from Earth)

It was called Huygens and was the first probe to land farther from Earth than any other. It was named after the Dutch astronomer who discovered Titan, one of Saturn's moons, in 1655.

It has been sixteen years since the Cassini-Huygens mission's spacecraft departed for Saturn and its moons. Huygins Separate from the Cassini spacecraft Christmas Day In 2004, he was the first to land on one of the most amazing moons From Lord of the Rings, Titanium. It was the object that landed farther from Earth than any other and was also the first to land on a moon other than Earth's moon. It was a very important day NASA and the European Space Agency, who planned this mission together. Here is a video of those amazing moments:

Huygens landing on Titan

Titan is The largest natural satellite of Saturn And one of the largest rocky bodies in the entire solar system. It is made up of ice and rocky material For many years it has been one of the potential candidates for a hypothetical future human mission into the outer solar system. In fact, it is the only existing satellite in the solar system Dense atmosphere. Huygens' landing allowed us to see what lies beneath Titan's thick clouds. Huygens' descent continued for approx Two and a half hours The data collected by the probe allowed scientists to understand more about the characteristics of this wonderful moon. The experiment led to a discovery Large lakes of liquid methane In the polar regions of the satellite. Titan surfaceHowever, it is very small and mostly flat, with a few cryovolcanoes and impact craters.

Moon atmosphere

Joe TitanHowever, it is more forbidden for humans. It is composed of 95% nitrogenbut they also exist Methane and ethane Which condenses to form clouds. Its surface temperature is -179.2°C, so it is a very cold celestial body. In short, with these characteristics, Titan is very similar to how Earth was originally, where the methane cycle replaced the hydrological cycle found on our planet.

sourceNASA cover image