Saturn's Moon Titan Has Soft and Crusty Surface, Probe Landing - Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

Saturn's Moon Titan Has Soft and Crusty Surface, Probe Landing

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Photo courtesy Yahoo.com Photo courtesy Yahoo.com

YAHOO.COM - The surface of Saturn's huge moon Titan has the consistency of soft, wet sand with a fragile crust on top, a new analysis of a nearly eight-year-old space probe landing suggests.

Researchers reconstructed the European Space Agency's Huygens probe landing on Titan, which occurred in January 2005. They determined that Huygens bounced, slid and wobbled to a stop 10 seconds after first making contact with the moon.

The study — which incorporated data from Huygens' instruments and results from computer simulations and a drop test with a model — found that the 400-pound (181-kilogram) probe made a dent 4.7 inches deep (12 centimeters) upon touching down. click here to read more

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