ESA's Huygens descent probe will for the first time make in-situ measurements of the electrical parameters in Titan's atmosphere. This provides the opportunity to detect lightning which is necessary for the development of organic molecules.

The Space Research Institute (IWF) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (AAS) is responsible for the experiment PWA (Permittivity, Wave, and Altimetry Experiment) as part of HASI (Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument) which will measure the electrical parameters in Titan's atmosphere. Furthermore, the on-board computer built in Graz will process the radar data for generating a profile of Titan's surface. After the impact the PWA sensors will determine whether the surface is solid or fluid.

IWF is collaborating with the Institute of Communications and Wave Propagation of the Graz University of Technology as well as with institutes in Italy (PI, University of Rome), Spain (IAA, Granada), France (LPCE, Orleans), and the Netherlands (ESTEC).

• Management of PWA and coordination between the participating institutes
• Development and construction of the PWA signal processor unit
• Development of the software for collection and compression of the electric and acoustic data measured by the PWA sensors.
• Software and data processing for the radar unit
• Development of an acoustic sensor for the measurement of the correlation between electric and acoustic parameters ("thunder")
• Participation in two terrestrial balloon test flights
• Modelling of the ion and electron density in Titan's atmosphere
• Investigation of the propagation of electromagnetic waves in Titan's atmosphere and ionosphere

• Observatoire de Paris (OPM), Universität Paris, Meudon, Frankreich

HASI Principal Investigator

• Department of Communication Engineering and Wave Propagation, University of Technology, Graz, Austria

 HASI Acoustic Unit Calibration

• Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Department of Geophysics, Helsinki, Finland

HASI Pressure Sensor and Radar Interface

• Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement (LPCE), CNRS, Orléans, France

PWA Pre-Amplifier and Science

• University of Padova (UPD), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Padova, Italy

HASI Instrument Manager

• Officine Galileo (OG), Florence, Italy

HASI Technical Management, Production of the HASI Electronics

• Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Rome, Italy

HASI Management

• ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

PWA Booms, Science

• Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA), CSIC, Granada, Spain

PWA Analogue Electronics

• University of Kent (UKC), England, UK

HASI Accelerometer

• Konrad Schwingenschuh, Co-Investigator, Scientific Coordination
• P. Falkner, Co-Investigator, Hardware and Software Desing
• Özer Aydogar, Instrument Development, Industrial Contact
• Irmgard Jernej, Radar and Software, Testing
• Karl Mocnik, Testing, Mechanics