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Galileo being deployed after being launched by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 missionGalileo was an unmanned spacecraft sent by NASA to study the planet Jupiter and its moons. Named after the astronomer and Renaissance man Galileo Galilei, it was launched on October 18 1989 by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission and arrived at Jupiter on December 7 1995.
The Galileo spacecraft conducted the first asteroid flyby, discovered the first asteroid moonAsteroid satellites An asteroid moon is an asteroid that orbits another asteroid. It is thought that many asteroids may possess moons, in some cases quite substantial in size. Asteroids with moons are commonly referred to as binary asteroids, although tha, was the first Jupiter orbiter and launched the first probe into Jupiter's atmosphere.
On September 21September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). There are 101 days remaining. Events 1745 Battle of Prestonpans Hanoverian army under the command of John Cope is defeated, in ten minutes, by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward St, 20032003 is a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar), and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Summary Perhaps the defining global event of the year 2003 was the Invasion of Iraq launched by the U, after 14 years of flight time and 8 years of service in the Jovian system, Galileos mission was terminated by sending the orbiter into Jupiter's crushing atmosphereAtmosphere is the general name for a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass. The gases are attracted by the gravity of the body, and held fast if gravity is sufficient and the atmosphere's temperature is low. Some planets cons at a speed of nearly 50 kilometres per second to avoid any chance of it contaminating local moons with bacteria from EarthEarth also known as the Earth or Terra is the planet on which we live, the third planet outward from the Sun. It is the largest of the solar system's terrestrial planets, and the only planetary body that modern science confirms as harbouring life. The pla. Of particular concern was the ice crusted moon Europa, which, thanks to Galileo, scientists now suspect harbors a salt water ocean—and possibly microbial life—beneath its surface.
1 Mission overview
Galileo's launch had been significantly delayed by the hiatus in Space Shuttle launches that occurred after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. New safety protocols that were implemented as a result of the explosion forced Galileo to use a lower powered upper stage booster rocket to send it from Earth orbit to Jupiter; several additional gravitational slingshots (once by Venus and twice by Earth), commonly called a "VEEGA" or Venus Earth Earth Gravity Assist maneuver, was required in order to give it enough velocity to reach its target. Along the way, Galileo performed close observation of the asteroids 951 Gaspra ( October 29, 1991) and 243 Ida, and discovered Ida's moon Dactyl. In 1994, Galileo was perfectly positioned to watch the fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crash into Jupiter. Earth based telescopes had to wait to see the impact sites as they rotated into view.
Galileo's prime mission was a two year study of the Jovian system. Galileo traveled around Jupiter in elongated ellipses; each orbit lasted about two months. By traveling at different distances from Jupiter, Galileo could sample different parts of the planet's extensive magnetosphere. The orbits were designed for close up flybys of Jupiter's largest moons. Once Galileo's primary mission was concluded, an extended mission followed starting on December 7 1997; the spacecraft made a number of daring close flybys of Jupiter's moons Europa and Io. The closest approach was 112 miles (180 km) on October 15, 2001. The radiation environment near Io in particular was very unhealthy for Galileo's systems, and so these flybys were saved for the extended mission when loss of the spacecraft would be more acceptable.
Galileo's cameras were deactivated on January 17 2002 after they had sustained irrecoverable radiation damage. NASA engineers were able to recover the damaged tape recorder electronics, and once more Galileo continued to return other scientific data until it was deorbited on September 21 2003 by impacting Jupiter in order to avoid an uncontrolled collision of the unsterilized probe and a Jovian moon. This was done because it is thought that some Jovian moons might harbor microbial life and a crash of Galileo on one of these moons would contaminate any future investigation and analysis.
