"Huygens has gathered critical on-the-scene data on the atmosphere and surface of Titan, providing valuable groundtruth to Cassini's ongoing investigations," said Bob Pappalardo, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Huygens probe, built and managed by the European Space Agency, was bolted to Cassini and rode along during its nearly seven-year journey to Saturn. Huygens' descent marked mankind's first and only attempt to land a probe on another world in the outer solar system.

Huygens transmitted data for more than four hours, as it plunged through Titan's hazy atmosphere and landed near a region now known as Adiri. Atmospheric density measurements from Huygens have helped engineers refine calculations for how low Cassini can fly through the moon's thick atmosphere.

Huygens captured the most attention for providing the first view from inside Titan's atmosphere and on its surface. The pictures of drainage channels and pebble-sized ice blocks surprised scientists with the extent of the moon's similarity to Earth. They showed evidence of erosion from methane and ethane rain.

"It was eerie," said Jonathan Lunine, an interdisciplinary Cassini scientist at the University of Rome, Tor Vergata, and University of Arizona, Tucson, and was with the Huygens camera team five years ago as they combed through the images coming down. "We saw bright hills above a dark plain, a weird combination of light and dark. It was like seeing a landscape out of Dante."

Combining these images with detections of methane and other gasses emanating from the surface, scientists came to believe Titan had a hydrologic cycle similar to Earth's, though Titan's cycle depends on methane and ethane rather than water. Titan is the only other body in the solar system other than Earth believed to have an active hydrologic cycle.

Huygens also gave scientists an opportunity to make electric field measurements from the atmosphere and surface, revealing a signature consistent with a water-and-ammonia ocean under an icy crust.

While the Huygens probe itself remains inactive on the Titan surface, insights inspired by the probe continue and ESA has convened a conference this week to extend the discussion, said Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Huygens Project Scientist for ESA.

"Huygens was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime mission," he said. "But we still have a lot to learn and I hope it will provide guidance for future missions to Titan."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. Huygens data was sent to NASA's Cassini spacecraft, and was recorded and relayed to Earth by NASA's Deep Space Network. JPL also manages the Deep Space Network.

The GOES-P spacecraft is currently being processed at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida. Prior to the holiday break the Payload Attached Fitting (PAF) fit check was successfully completed on December 18, 2009. Functional testing on the spacecraft bus (the satellite) was successfully completed on December 22, 2009.

Over the last couple of weeks, the GOES-P spacecraft team commenced with instrument testing and cleaning on the Solar X-Ray Imager and the Imager and Sounder. Testing has completed on schedule and performance is as expected.

The first and second stage of the Delta IV rocket were mated in the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Horizontal Integrating Facility on Jan.6. Following the vehicle mate the rocket was transported to the launch pad (Pad 37B) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on January 13th. The vehicle was successfully erected and stands ready for further processing and testing. The smaller solid rocket boosters are expected to be transported to the pad and integrated on January 14-15.

Andre' Dress, GOES N-P Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. said, "Our team has made incredible strides in the past few weeks. Just coming off the successful launch and check out of GOES O, everyone is ready to go again and we are anxious to see GOES P added to the NOAA constellation."

Launch is targeted for no earlier than March 1.

For information on GOES-P, visit

Since 2005, Gerstenmaier has been responsible for overseeing the International Space Station and Space Shuttle programs, space communications and space launch vehicles.

Lesa B. Roe, director of NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia, former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, NASA Johnson Space Center Director Mike Coats, and RNASA Advisor and Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt nominated Gerstenmaier for the National Space Trophy.

"Gerstenmaier's career achievements and personal initiatives have had a direct impact on the current U.S. human space flight program, the international community, and residents of planet Earth," said Roe. "His efforts will continue to shape the future of space exploration for many years to come."

Griffin said, "It was my honor to work with Bill for four years. Quite simply, Bill Gerstenmaier is regarded as the ultimate authority on the space shuttle and International Space Station. When he says something, people listen, and they know that what he says is true."

Coats added, "Bill's impact in the space community is unparalleled. He has literally guided an international group of thousands of individuals in many countries in furthering human space flight and assuring a continued human presence in space. The partnerships we currently enjoy with our international partners for the ISS are largely due to Bill's tremendous efforts and diligence."

Gerstenmaier will formally be recognized at a RNASA gala on April 30. The seven-foot, 500-pound lead crystal trophy is on display at Space Center Houston.

NASA has tasked two of its space-based, high-resolution instruments to image areas hardest hit by the earthquake. Before-and-after scenes of Port-au-Prince, for example, will be used to aid with damage assessment and recovery.

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), a Japanese-U.S. instrument with visible, infrared and thermal infrared sensors flying on the Terra spacecraft, took observations of the region on Jan. 14. The data are being processed and compared with pre-earthquake imagery. ASTER will again revisit the area on Jan. 19 and Jan. 21.

NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite is scheduled to obtain multispectral images of the region on Jan. 15.

NASA and the NASA-funded SERVIR Rapid Response Mapping team at the Center for Water in the Humid Tropics in Latin America and the Caribbean are on standby to support the damage assessment efforts once EO-1 and ASTER data are available.

NASA is coordinating its efforts with international space agencies through the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response, as well as agreements with the Committee on Earth Observations and the Group on Earth Observations.