“the baby is alive”

early this morning radio astronomers on earth picked up the huygens’ carrier signal, a simple tone meant to alert those tracking the probe that it is “alive” and currently in descent through the atmosphere of titan. in the next few hours two sets of parachutes will be deployed and all of the probe’s instruments will be powered up. among the instruments is a sophisticated microphone by which the mission planners hope to capture the sound of titan’s atmosphere, including the theorized thunder thought to be rumbling about. the landing, successful or not, will be the climax to a seven year,1.3 billion mile trip. all very poetic and romantic. the first science data is anticipated to arrive by 11:15 a.m.est. though as onlookers i think we’ve been a bit spoiled by the fantastic images sent home from the two rovers currently on mars the thought of audio from titan is certainly exciting. here is the initial esa announcement (mp3). also the esa huygens page has a short animation of the descent as it’s expected to play out. you can check this page for updates. good luck ye noble probe.