The Story: ESA's Huygens probe lands on Titan

After a seven-year piggyback ride on board the Cassini spacecraft, the european probe Huygens was released from the mother ship and slammed into Titan's atmosphere on 14 January 2005.

Protected by a heat shield, the probe slowed from 18,000 to 1,400 km per hour in just three minutes. Soon after, a large parachute opened out. At a height of about 160 km, the probe's instruments began to take pictures and study the atmosphere.

It was mankind's first successful attempt to deliver a probe to a planet-sized world in the remote outer reaches of the Solar System. "Titan is a fascinating world and we are now eagerly studying the results," said Professor David Southwood, Director of ESA's scientific programme.

The Mission: Your Journey to Titan

Imagine you and a group of friends were on a spacecraft to visit Titan in the near future. After reaching Saturn and manoeuvring it's mighty rings, you would be orbiting Titan and looking for a suitable place to land your spacecraft.

Once solid ground under your feet, you would put on your space suit and go for a stroll on Titan! What kind of a world would you find? What would it look like?

The Huygens probe did not find any life on Titan, but what if you met some alien creatures there? What would they look like? How would you greet them? How would they react? Would your meeting be hostile or friendly? Have they a story to tell or something to show?

The Challenge: Animate your Adventure

You are challenged to dream up and develop a story about your mission to Titan. You can design your own spacecraft, build characters for every crew member, create alien worlds and creatures, and tell the story of your mission in a short animation.

The animation you create must not be longer than five minutes, so you have to think about how to tell your story in a comprehensive but concise way. You don't have to cover the whole journey in your animation, and can concentrate on an interesting episode if you prefer.

The most important factor is that your story is imaginative and gripping, and that you manage to tell it in moving images which give us a glimpse of what it looked like and what happened to you on Titan.

Competition Terms

• The competition is for primary and secondary schools only
• Participating pupils must be 4 to 14 years old (Year 1 to 9)
• Schools can send in up to three animation clips per key stage
• Animation clips must be in a suitable format for online display
• A jury will select three winning animation clips per key stage
• Winners will receive one year free school membership
• Winning animations will be shown in an online exhibition

The competition is now closed - visit the online exhibition!

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