Ewan's Corner

My new hosting domain is now setup (or at least i’ve got it up and running – i’ll never be finished setting it up :-) and MovableType is running, so welcome to my new MT blog. Please use this URL from now on : http://blog.ewanscorner.com/, and update your RSS / ATOM feeds please :-)
I’ve imported all my old Blogger posts (i’m not happy with the formatting, but that’s an issue for another day) – so thanks for all the good times Blogger, and hats off to you Pyra, but it’s time to move on. Using the default template for now, until i have enough spare time to design my own…
And in the news, the Huygens probe – with any luck – lands on Saturn’s fascinating moon Titan today! We live in exciting times :-) See the ESA timeline for details, but in my timezone (SAT, GMT+2) it looks like this:

1. 07h51 – electronics on, transmitter on in low-power mode
2. 12h13 – technical entry into Titan’s atmosphere begins (1270 km up)
3. 12h17 – pilot parachute deploys, rear cover released shortly afterwards (should be 180 km up, moving at under 400 m/s)
4. 12h18 – Front shield released, Huygens begins transmitting to Cassini (about 160 km above the surface of Titan). First images and data recorded.
5. 12h32 – main parachute separates, drogue chute deploys. Tons of data being captured :-)
6. 12h49 – Surface proximity sensor activated – Huygens should now be able to tell it’s distance from the surface (around 60 km) via radar, as well as it’s spin rate. Timing gets fuzzy from here on.
7. 13h57 – Begins sampling atmosphere using the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer. Descent should take 137 minutes (+-15 minutes) in total. Cameras and instruments should see the entire panorama as the probe rotates.
8. 14h30 – Main camera activates a light – the Spectral Radiometer lamp.
9. 14h34-ish – touchdown (or splashdown) at around 5 m/s (ouch). Surface Science Package captures as much data as possible in the remaining 3 minutes of battery life.
10. 16h44 – Huygens landing site drops below horison for Cassini, and no more data can be received by Cassini. EOM.
11. 17h14 – Cassini turns high gain antenna to Earth, and begins transmitting data. World listens carefully for repeated data.

I’m holding thumbs that Huygens has better luck than the ill-fated Beagle did on Mars.