PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Huygens Summary Timeline
This is a more-or-less arbitrary collection of events during the Huygens mission that are of scientific and/or engineering interest. Compiled by R. D. Lorenz drawing on the work of many. 
The  official UTC value of T0  is 2005-014T09:10:20.828 .
T-T0 Altitude (km) Event Ref
-16143 Probe power-on 1
-8396 Probe support avionics power-on 1
-348 Arrival at interface altitude (1,270 km)  3
-6.375 S0 (deceleration falls below 10 m/s2) 3
0 t0 (start of the descent sequence)  1
1.4 Pilot Chute Inflates 3
2.5 Back Cover Release, Deploy Main  3
4.9 Main Parachute inflates 3
32.5 Heat shield separation  3
45 Transmitter ON  1
50 GCMS inlet cap jettison  1
58 GCMS outlet cap jettison  1
62 HASI boom deployment (latest)  1
66 DISR cover jettison  1
90 145 ACP inlet cap jettison  1
143.6 Data Transmission Begins 3
~528 126 Spin Rate = 0, spin reverses 9,5
900 111 Main Chute Release/Stabilizer Deploy 1
903 Stabilizer inflated 3
1050 Anomalous HASI PWA data 4
1242 Anomalous HASI PWA data 4
1249 90 Maximum Spin Rate = -9.56rpm 9,5
1440 ACP Pump On.   SSP API data degraded 5
~1500 ~76 Minimum in Zonal Wind Speed Profile 13
~1554 GCMS Ion Source 5 Anomaly 5,6
1974 Radar altimeter power-on  3
~2000 62 Peak in HASI RP Electron Density 2
~2700 45 Radar Altimeter B locks (false) on surface 11
3440 ACP Pump off 5
~3450 36 Radar Altimeter A locks (false) on surface 11
~4650 ACP Pump On.    5
5150 21 DISR detects faint cloud layer 14
~5200 20 Radar altimeter B locks correctly  11
5310 ACP Pump Off 5
~6000 15 Radar Altimeter A locks correctly 11
~6685 11.5 SSP API-V begins to get pulses 12
6720 10.9 DISR detects faint cloud layer 14
~7500 7 Probe turns to move WNW 8
~8650 1 Probe begins to move to SW 8
8745 DISR surface lamp on 1
8842 0.14 Radar altimeters lost lock 11
8850 0.1 SSP Echo Sounder Detects Surface 10
8870 0 Surface impact  1
~8874 Dust cloud dies away 7
~8874-8879 Bouncing/Rocking motion of probe dies away 7
8887 HASI temperatures begin slow increase 5
9052 HASI Temperatures begin fluctuating 5
9103 SSP API-V Pulses resume 5
9532 HASI Temperatures drop ~0.2K 5
9550 Discontinuity in HASI PWA Permittivity Data 2
10125 SSP API-V Pulses cease 5
10128 HASI Temperatures jump ~0.15K 5
~10400 GCMS C2H6 level rises 6
10423 Possible Dewdrop detected by DISR Image 897 5,8
10787 Last HASI Temperature 5
~11000 GCMS CO2 and C2H2 levels rising 6
13203 End of Cassini–probe link  1
16031 Probe support avionics power-off 1
20559 Last signal detection by Earth-based radio 1
~20700 Estimated Battery Depletion  ~T0+5.5-6hrs 11
Ref
1 Lebreton et al., Nature 438, 2005, 758-764
2 Grard et al., PSS 54, 2006, 1124-1136
3 Kazeminejad et al., PSS 55, 2007, 1845-1876
4 Hamelin et al., PSS 55, 2007, 1964-1977
5 Lorenz Analysis of PDS archive -unpublished
6 Niemann et al., JGR, 115, E12006, 2010
7 Schroeder et al., PSS 73, 2012, 327-340
8 Karkoschka et al., PSS 55, 2007, 1896-1935
9 Sarlette et al., COMPARISON OF THE HUYGENS MISSION AND THE SM2 TEST FLIGHT
      FOR HUYGENS ATTITUDE RECONSTRUCTION, International Planetary Probe Workshop,
10 Zarnecki et al., Nature 438, 2005, 792-795
11 Couzin, Huygens Mission Post Flight Engineering Analysis, 
12 Leese et al., PPS 70, 2012. 28-45
13 Bird et al., Nature 438, 2005, 800-802
14 Karkoschka et al., Icarus 199, 2009. 442-448