Destination Titan

Description

A billion miles from Earth, a small saucer-shaped spacecraft emerged from the fiery turmoil of an atmospheric entry. Seconds later, a set of explosive bolts fired, and its charred heat-shield fell away. A parachute then opened and the craft slowly began its descent, gently buffeted by winds. With temperatures hovering at a chilly -180C, it finally touched down on the freezing surface of this distant world.

Not the opening chapter of a science fiction novel, but an accurate description of the extraordinary moment on 14 January 2005 when the European Space Agency's Huygens probe landed on the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

The landing was the culmination of close to 20 years' work for the scientists and engineers involved, and its outcome hung by a thread until virtually the last minute.

The icy pebbles on Titan's surface and an artist's impression of the probe on the moon's surface. This documentary, Destination Titan, follows the trials and tribulations of a small team of British scientists who had the challenging task of designing the experiment which would make the first ever measurements on Titan's surface.

For Professor John Zarnecki, the Surface Science Package's (SSP) Principal Investigator, the journey to Titan had been a personal odyssey. Inspired as a boy by seeing Yuri Gagarin when the famous cosmonaut visited London in 1961, Zarnecki longed for a career in space science.

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