Pressure sensors investigate Titan
A
Vaisala product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
May 24, 2005
The Huygens Atmosphere Structure Instrument includes a series of Vaisala Barocap sensors.
On 14th January 2005, astronomers around the world were holding their breath.
The Huygens probe was about to enter Titan's atmosphere and land on its surface.
The Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn is an extremely ambitious effort in planetary space exploration.
A joint endeavour of the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA and the Italian space agency (ASI), Cassini-Huygens sent a robotic spacecraft to orbit and study the Saturnian system in detail over a four-year period.
Onboard Cassini was a probe called Huygens that was released on 25th December 2004 from the main spacecraft.
Huygens' mission was to parachute through the atmosphere to the surface of Saturn's largest and perhaps most interesting moon, Titan.
The Huygens Atmosphere Structure Instrument (HASI) comprises sensors for measuring the physical and electrical properties of the atmosphere and an onboard microphone to send back sounds from Titan.
There is also a series of Vaisala Barocap sensors, ie capacitive absolute pressure sensors manufactured by silicon micromachining.
The Barocap sensor has excellent hysteresis and repeatability characteristics, as well as outstanding temperature and long-term stability - features certainly required in Titan's thick nitrogen atmosphere and cold surface (-180C).
Huygens' descent and landing were successful.
The data and stunning images collected will keep scientists busy for months if not years to come.
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