THE European Space Agency has always lived in the shadow of its larger American cousin. But last week it stole the limelight when its Huygens probe gave us our first glimpse of the surface of Titan, Saturn’s giant moon. To be fair, it wasn’t all ESA’s doing, since Huygens hitched a lift on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. But Huygens’s images are spectacular (see “One hour on Titan, forever bathed in glory”). Perhaps the most surprising thing apart from the orange sky is that this alien moon looks strikingly familiar. And if the early signs are right, this is no accident:…
Space
Editorial: ESA triumph as probe reveals Titan's secrets
19 January 2005
