News
For the attention of: news editors
Friday 14 January 2005 [PR4954]
Open University celebrates space success as
Huygens Arrives at Titan
Open University space scientist Professor John Zarnecki and his team were ecstatic as signals from two billion kilometres away confirmed that their Huygens probe had successfully descended through the atmosphere and arrived on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The joint NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini Huygens mission is exploring Saturn for the next four years.
ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain confirmed that “we are the first visitors to Titan and we shall unveil the secrets of this new world.” He also said that the Huygens probe was transmitting for two hours past touchdown, opening the way for even more science to be collected.
Speaking from ESA’s mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, Professor John Zarnecki from the Open University (Principal Investigator for the Surface Science Package on Huygens) was jubilant about receiving data from Huygens.
“It is quite simply fantastic. This is an achievement that science will use for centuries. I am proud to be a part of it. After all the years of planning and building the instruments, and another seven years of spaceflight, it is a great thrill to know that we reached our destination. Today, I really have a feel for what it must have been like for an explorer first discovering a new World – in fact I think I can claim to be one! I am desperate to get back to the science data which will hopefully reveal just what the enigmatic Titan consists of.”
He continues, “It is a tremendous privilege to be part of an international team which has sent a spacecraft to another body in the Solar System and importantly for our Open University instrument to be the first point of contact with Titan’s surface.”
The reason Titan was picked for a landing is its atmosphere – it’s the only moon in the solar system with a dense atmosphere. It’s made mostly of nitrogen, just like the Earth’s atmosphere in its early days, and scientists hope the data they are collecting now will give clues to the origin of life on Earth.
Huygens is one of almost a dozen space research missions the Open University is currently involved in because of the expertise in its Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute (PSSRI).
Commenting on the mission success Professor Ian Halliday, Chief Executive of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, the UK space science funding agency, said:
“This is fantastic news. It’s a real tribute to the expertise and dedication of the UK space scientists and industrialists who have made such a significant contribution to the Huygens probe. To land on this remote and mysterious moon is an awesome feat of engineering. We now wait for our scientists to interpret the data from their instruments and unlock the secrets of this cosmic enigma”.
For further updates see the following websites:-
ESA - http://saturn.esa.int
NASA - http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
PPARC - Further details about the UK role in the mission and a full list of UK contacts (science and industry)at:-
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/cassini_huygens.asp
Open University Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute (PSSRI)
http://pssri.open.ac.uk/missions/mis-cas.htm
Images
The first images are expected at 1945 GMT. They will be released at a press briefing which will be televised on ESA TV and posted on the ESA website (see above).
Hi-res images of Professor Zarnecki and the OU Huygens team can be downloaded at:
http://www3.open.ac.uk/media/image-bank/news.asp
Press Briefing on 15th
Please note that ESA will be holding a summary briefing at 10.00 a.m. GMT on Saturday 15th January 2005 (consolidated first results to date, images and sounds). This will be televised on ESA TV (http://television.esa.int). For further updates please see http://saturn.esa.int
Editor’s Notes
OU scientists available
Huygens Team
Professor John Zarnecki, Open University – Principal Investigator for Huygens Surface Science Package (SSP) and Co-investigator for the Huygens Atmospheric Instrument (HASI) - Darmstadt
Mobile: 0 7769 943883
Mark Leese, OU Huygens team (Darmstadt)
Mobile: 07941 413933 Email:
Andrew Ball, OU Huygens team (Darmstadt)
Mobile: 07905 104576 Email:
Dr Simon Green, OU Huygens team
Tel: 01908 659601. Email:
Professor Tony McDonnell, OU Huygens team
Co-I on SSP and HASI. Co-I on CDA on Cassini
Tel: 01227 761352. Mobile: 07771 514107
Email@
Professor Colin Pillinger, OU
Tel: 01908 655169. Email:
UK Contacts
Louis De La Forêt - Media Relations Officer, Open University
Tel: 01908 653256. Mobile 07771810099
Email:
Eulina Clairmont – Media Relations Officer, Open University
Tel: 01908 65348. Mobile: 07747898468
Email:
The face of The Open University is changing as its community of students, staff, alumni and supporters begins to see the University using its new-style logo. The old blue and yellow logo – familiar to millions for 35 years – has been redesigned to fit with the University’s 21st century aims.
While the new logo will appear on everything from stationery to course materials over the next two years, it’s more than just this visible difference that the Open University community will notice. The updated logo is one in a series of changes that the largest university in the UK is making to keep it at the forefront of distance learning in higher education.
A new ten-point strategy – OU Futures – promises to provide even better service to students. Its priorities include fair access for all, an increased pace of innovation, international expansion and greater local presence throughout the UK. There can hardly be a street in the UK that does not have an OU alumnus, student or staff member within its homes.
The Open University is ranked fifth of all UK universities for teaching quality in the Sunday Times University Guide 2004 – a ranking higher than those for Oxford and University College London. More than 1,000 academics are involved in writing materials and in research that ranges from e-learning to space sciences. Another 8,000 associate lecturers provide personal tuition to more than 200,000 students.
Since its beginning in 1971, more than two million people have studied Open University degree, diploma, certificate and stand-alone courses.
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