The Huygens Probe Descent Trajectory Working Group: Organizational framework, goals, and implementation

Abstract

Cassini/Huygens, a flagship mission to explore the rings, atmosphere, magnetic field, and moons that make up the Saturn system, is a joint endeavor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the European Space Agency, and Agenzia Spaziale Italiana. Comprising two spacecraft—a Saturn orbiter built by NASA and a Titan entry/descent probe built by the European Space Agency— Cassini/Huygens was launched in October 1997. The Huygens probe parachuted to the surface of Titan in January 2005. During the descent, six science instruments provided in situ measurements of Titan’s atmosphere, clouds, and winds, and photographed Titan’s surface. To correctly interpret and correlate results from the probe science experiments, and to provide a reference set of data for groundtruth calibration of orbiter remote sensing measurements, an accurate reconstruction of the probe entry and descent trajectory and surface landing location is necessary. The Huygens Descent Trajectory Working Group was chartered in 1996 as a subgroup of the Huygens Science Working Team to develop and implement an organizational framework and retrieval methodologies for the probe descent trajectory reconstruction from the entry altitude of 1270km to the surface using navigation data, and engineering and science data acquired by the instruments on the Huygens Probe. This paper presents an overview of the Descent Trajectory Working Group, including the history, rationale, goals and objectives, organizational framework, rules and procedures, and implementation.