More Space Blogging

The Huygens spacecraft has sent back its first signal on its descent to Titan:

"It looks like we have heard the baby cry," said Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Huygens mission manager.

"It tells us the probe is alive, that everything has been successful and that we are on the parachute."

Huygens' systems should now be preparing to transmit data to the Cassini spacecraft. The probe still has a couple of hours to go on its journey to the moon though.

The spacecraft will take a total of 750 images during its two-and-a-half-hour descent, shedding light on this cosmic enigma.

"This should provide a spectacular new view of Titan and hopefully a much greater understanding of this mysterious world," said Marty Tomasko, principal investigator on the Descent Imager/Spactral Radiometer instrument on Huygens.