Dr Becca Wilson

I was interviewed by THE about the Huygens landing whilst attending the UK press conference.

Within three months of starting my astrobiology Ph.D. at the Open University I was invited to attend the UK press conference for the Huygens landing on Titan.   The event took place at the Royal Society in front of an audience of around 70-100 people.  It was very exciting as a number of OU academics (Colin Pillinger, Somon Green etc) were involved in the mission and sat on the panel to answer press questions.

The event included a live link up to John Zarneki and researchers analysing the data as it came into ESOC.    I will never forget staring at the big screen as the first images from Titan were shown live as the data was relayed. The data was a backward time sequence and so the first images were of the lander on the surface.  I remember seeing rounded pebbles and a desert-like landscape akin to Mars.  A truly inspiring start to my Ph.D. years.