The upshot of this maneuvering is that instead of landing on Titan in November 2004, Huygens will now be deployed on 24 December 2004 for a 14 January 2005 landing. The lander still faces enormous engineering challenges as it ventures into the unknown conditions of Titan's atmosphere and surface. But at least now it has a fighting chance to transmit its findings back to Earth.
As for Smeds, ESA's staff association awarded him and some of his colleagues a plaque and a small cash prize for their role in saving the $300 million mission, though Smeds told Spectrum that he is still looking forward to his real reward: "I hope to sit in Darmstadt and see the data coming in on the screen in January."
About the author
James Oberg is a 22-year veteran of NASA mission control. He is nowa writer and consultant in Houston. His last article for IEEESpectrum was in August, about the first private suborbitalspacecraft, SpaceshipOne.
Stephen Cass contributed additional reporting for this article.
To Probe Further
For more information on the Cassini-Huygens Mission, go to http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm.
