A MACHINE from Earth is now resting on an ice-strewn plain a billion kilometres away. The Huygens probe landed on Titan last Friday. It started transmitting during its descent and kept on going far longer than anyone expected after it reached the surface. The images and other data it sent back are extraordinary.
Although analysis has barely begun, educated guesses by the Huygens team are giving us a first impression of this new world. There appear to be canyons cutting through hills of ice, surrounded by tarry plains strewn with ice cobbles and frosted with methane. There are many signs…
