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Information from the first contact with the surface of an alien moon is arriving at radio telescopes around the world.

The Huygens probe sent a signal to scientists at NASA and the European Space Agency racing to
decipher the long-distance message from Saturn's moon Titan. Radio telescopes confirmed the probe
survived reentry, successfully deployed its three parachutes and landed on the moon's icy surface this morning.

The probe -- although designed to last only minutes on the moon's surface -- beamed data for
nearly two hours to Cassini, in its orbit around Saturn.

Cassini received information until it passed beyond the moon's horizon and out of contact.
Now Cassini has turned toward Earth and is passing on the data to scientists.
They are hoping the data have survived transmission uncorrupted, said Bob Mitchell, program
manager for the Cassini-Huygens mission at NASA.

"What we know is the probe survived reentry.... descended the atmosphere, contacted the
surface and transmitted for at least an hour and half," he said. "What we don't know is how
did the instruments work, how did Cassini work and do we have the data intact."

Huygens reached the surface of Saturn's moon Titan on Friday around 7:45 ET, reported elated
scientists from the European Space Agency, standing ready to analyze long-awaited data from
the cloud-shrouded moon.

"We have a signal. We know that Huygens is alive meaning the dream is alive," said Jean-Jacques
Dordain director general for ESA which designed Huygens. "This is already an engineering
success and we will see, later this afternoon, if this is a scientific success."

Grinning scientists watching from the ESA operations center in Germany said the first obstacle -- a
tricky atmospheric entry -- had been a great engineering feat. Time will tell if all of Huygens'
precious data will reach their destination.
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