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Huygens
Spacecraft
A European-built atmospheric probe that successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, becoming the first spacecraft to land on a moon in the outer Solar System and revealing detailed images of Titan's surface through its thick atmosphere.
Key Facts
organization | ESA |
orbital regime | Outer System |
learn more | Wikipedia |
launched | 1997-10-15 |
defunct | 2005-01-14 |
launch mass | 320 kg |
power | 600 watts |
Mission Timeline
Launched
October 15, 1997 at 08:43 UTC
Titan
Lander
After a seven-year journey as part of the Cassini mission, Huygens became the first spacecraft to land on Titan on January 14, 2005, transmitting 2.5 hours of atmospheric data and surface images during its descent and landing in the moon's equatorial region.
Defunct
January 14, 2005 at 13:37 UTC
After landing on Saturn's moon Titan and transmitting data for 90 minutes from the surface, Huygens exhausted its battery power and fell silent, becoming the first and only spacecraft to land on Titan.
Related Spacecraft
Cassini
Launched in 1997
A pioneering spacecraft launched in 1997 that explored Saturn and its moons for 13 years, discovering ocean worlds and atmospheric phenomena before deliberately plunging into Saturn's atmosphere in 2017 after completing 294 orbits of the planet.
Other Spacecraft
