Guest #1 September 20, 2003 After eight years and more than 30 orbits of the Jovian system, Galileo will make its swan dive into the atmosphere of Jupiter this Sunday. The original plan was to leave the probe in orbit around Jupiter, but after the promising discoveries made about Jupiter's moon Europa and the possibility of organic life there, it was decided to avoid the risk of contamination of Europa by changing the probe's orbit so that it will slam into Jupiter's atmosphere and burn up completely, thus avoidng the remote risk of contaminating the Jovian moon with microbes from Earth. Chucked into space on the "slow boat" from a space shuttle in 1989 (also using a weak-assed Centaur booster! - ed), Galileo took SIX YEARS to reach Jupiter, by using the inner planets of the solar system to build velocity, much as the Cassini probe, now en route to Saturn did. Galileo's high-gain antenna failed to deploy after launch, forcing the scientists and the ground crew to collect data in a manner likened to using a soda straw to suck up water from a fire hose (please see this month's issue of Astronomy Magazine), but the technicians persevered, and Galileo has delivered amazing data about Jupiter and its moons. For example, research has revealed that Jupiter's moon Io has about 300 active volcanoes, and the above-mentioned Europa (named by the famed astronomer himself) might, just might, harbor organic life in its suspected oceans... One of the freakiest things Galileo did was capture images of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 as it slammed into Jupiter's atmosphere. Very, very, very cool. Please Google on that, and do a further Google on Hubble's captures of the event. WOW! Despite the setbacks, Galileo outperformed even the most optimistic engineering projections, enduring an absolute hell of radiation from Jupiter over and over as it shuttled in and out of the near-Jovian system, collecting a treasure trove of scientific data that is likely to keep scientists busy for years and years. It discovered more moons around Jupiter; and believe it or not, the moons have moons! On Sunday, when it hits Jupiter's outer atmospherse, it's going to be traveling at 30 miles per SECOND! On a personal note - I don't know about you who may be reading this, but this news makes me incredibly proud to be an American, and a human being. With all the astonishing waste of time, money and effort spent in the pursuit of death (approx 600 BILLION spent every year worldwide on arms ALONE), it's heartening to know that some of our resources are being spent in the pursuit of knowledge; not for economic gain or for a military or political advantage, but simply to increase the wealth of knowledge of all mankind..."To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." So, to paraphase CMDR James Lovell, USN - "Farewell, Galileo, and we thank you." Main story at -- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #2 September 20, 2003 Quotealso using a weak-assed Centaur booster! - ed) Nice post MarkHarju. Just want to make one correction. Galileo was not launched by Centaur upper-stage, but by IUS - a program I worked on many years ago. The IUS is the thing that looks like a white, cylindrical trash can at the base of Galileo and has the letters "USA" printed on the bottom. Just trying to give props to all the fine people that worked G!Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest #3 September 20, 2003 Eeek - I blew it! The Centaur was the booster that was superior, but was dropped after the Challenger mishap! My bad!"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #4 September 20, 2003 Well, you didn't hear this from ol' Riddler, but there's the official story, then there's the inside story. Both Centaur and IUS are fine upper stages and have their strengths and weaknesses - both actually fall under the command of the same CO for defense missions, as well as Titan LV. Of course, I worked for the company that made the Centaur, so we thought it was better, but there's the other side that thinks IUS is better. Truth is, there aren't many players in astronautics, and all the companies do a good job. Anyhoo - the company I worked for, which is now a different company after a merger some years ago had created several pieces for the G, as well as Hughes, and a few others. But the company that makes IUS, and is also a different company after another merger (boy, it's getting hard to not name names here) wanted a piece of the mission. So the head honcho decides that since we already had parts of the spacecraft, the upper stage should go to this other company. It was IUS on Challenger, not Centaur, but that was 4 years prior, and someone was pushing to get it back in the air after it was proven to not be responsible for the Challenger explosion. So, IMO, it was a political concession. Millions of dollars get spent on proposals, but the real decisions happen out on the golf course. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,595 #5 September 20, 2003 That was a really great post, Mark Wendy W.There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MC208B 0 #6 September 20, 2003 Wendy is correct, very interesting post. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest #7 September 20, 2003 Many thanks to you and Wendy. I love this stuff, and I can't think of anything I'd rather see my tax dollars spent on than this kind of exploration. Further, I wish I had the chops to participate in the creation and operation of such wonderful devices. "The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
