Page "Huygens (spacecraft)" Paragraph 14

This instrument is a versatile gas chemical analyzer that was designed to identify and measure chemicals in Titan's atmosphere.

It was equipped with samplers that were filled at high altitude for analysis.

The mass spectrometer, a high-voltage quadrupole, collected data to build a model of the molecular masses of each gas, and a more powerful separation of molecular and isotopic species was accomplished by the gas chromatograph.

During descent, the GC / MS also analyzed pyrolysis products ( i. e., samples altered by heating ) passed to it from the Aerosol Collector Pyrolyser.

Finally, the GC / MS measured the composition of Titan's surface.

This investigation was made possible by heating the GC / MS instrument just prior to impact in order to vaporize the surface material upon contact.

The GC / MS was developed by the Goddard Space Flight Center and University of Michigan's Space Physics Research Lab.