TODAY Southampton scientists could be the first to measure waves on another planet.

Their space probe successfully broke away from its mother ship, the US Cassini spacecraft, on Christmas Day and is due to land on Titan, a moon of Saturn, this afternoon.

The probe's parachute is due to open at 10am before finally landing on our solar system's second biggest moon at 12.30pm.

It will then send back an hour's worth of data to the university's oceanography centre via its mother ship, a laboratory in California and the European Space Agency in Germany.

All the data measuring the height of the waves will be scrutinised for the next ten years by academics and PhD students as they hope to learn more about Titan.

The wave movements on what is believed to be Titan's liquid surface, believed to be made up of hydrocarbons and liquid methane, will be measured and allow scientists to test their existing theories for predicting the height of waves in a different atmosphere.

This could help in the development of coastal sea defences and safety at sea.

Peter Challenor, of Southampton Oceanography Centre has been working on the project for the last 15 years.

He said that everything had gone to plan so far. He added: "The main thing that could still go wrong is that the parachute will not open."

Today's landing of the space probe is the culmination of years of effort.

However, there is no guarantee it will land on liquid.

Professor John Zarnecki, one of the scientists working on the project said: "The probe could land with a thud on hard ground or a squelch into a morass of extra-terrestrial slime - no one knows for sure."