Galileo
Galileo in 1983 |
(TFS) - Galileo was an American unmanned spacecraft
that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar
System bodies. Named after the astronomer Galileo Galilei, it consisted of an
orbiter and entry probe.
It was launched on October 18, 1989, carried by Space
Shuttle Atlantis, on the STS-34 mission. Galileo arrived at Jupiter on December
7, 1995, after gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth, and became the
first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter.
It launched the first probe into Jupiter, directly
measuring its atmosphere. Despite suffering major antenna problems, Galileo
achieved the first asteroid flyby, of 951 Gaspra, and discovered the first
asteroid moon, Dactyl, around 243 Ida. In 1994, Galileo observed Comet
Shoemaker–Levy 9's collision with Jupiter.
Jupiter's atmospheric composition and ammonia clouds
were recorded, the clouds possibly created by outflows from the lower depths of
the atmosphere.
Io's volcanism and plasma interactions with Jupiter's
atmosphere were also recorded.
The data Galileo collected supported the theory of a
liquid ocean under the icy surface of Europa, and there were indications of
similar liquid-saltwater layers under the surfaces of Ganymede and
Callisto.
Ganymede was shown to possess a magnetic field and the
spacecraft found new evidence for exospheres around Europa, Ganymede, and
Callisto. Galileo also discovered that Jupiter's faint ring system consists of
dust from impacts on the four small inner moons. The extent and structure of
Jupiter's magnetosphere was also mapped.
Galileo orbits Jupiter |
On September 21, 2003, after 14 years in space and 8
years in the Jovian system, Galileo's mission was terminated by sending it into
Jupiter's atmosphere at a speed of over 48 kilometers per second (30 mi/s),
eliminating the possibility of contaminating local moons with terrestrial
bacteria.
SBB
source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_(spacecraft)