On Jan. 14, 2005, The European Space Agency (ESA) probe Huygens landed on Saturn's moon Titan. The probe arrived after being carried from Earth by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
This remains the most distant landing from Earth and the first and only landing in the outer solar system, according to NASA.
The journey took seven years, with Huygens separating from Cassini and then traveling solo to Titan for 21 Earth days. It took the 9-foot wide (2.7 meters), 700 pounds (318 kilograms) probe around 2 hours and 27 minutes to descend through the atmosphere of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn and the second-largest moon in the solar system.
Following touchdown at 11:30 UTC on January 14, Huygens, designed to be robust like a metal shellfish, survived for 72 minutes on the surface of Titan. After this, it lost contact with Cassini, its communication relay to Earth.
In under four hours of operation, Huygens was able to facilitate some major Titan discoveries. These included profiling the Saturnian moon's atmosphere, discovering powerful east-to-west raging winds on Titan, and discovering a plateau with dry rivers carved into it.
These rivers appeared to form drainage networks on Titan, feeding into a broad, dark, lowland region. In many ways, these networks resemble the waterways of Earth. However, Huygens didn't detect any sign of existing liquid water on Titan's surface.
The work of Huygens laid the groundwork for NASA's Dragonfly helicopter, which will set off on a six-year journey to Titan in July 2028.
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