I just thought that this article made for interesting reading. http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,7274434%5E954,00.html Gallant Galileo engulfed, by Jupiter Brendan O'Malley 16sep03 GALILEO, the little spacecraft that just kept chugging on, will finally disappear from computer screens next Monday soon after a planned crash-landing into Jupiter. NASA ground controllers decided to terminate the mission six years after it was officially due to end because the plutonium fuel supply needed to maintain the satellite's course and keep its antenna pointed towards Earth was almost exhausted. Galileo would be sent on a one-way, 173,000km/h trip through the atmosphere at 7.49am on Monday, watched by 1500 people associated with the 1.3-tonne electronic box since its launch from the cargo bay of the space shuttle Atlantis in 1989. It was decided the spacecraft should be burned up to kill any bacteria which might be clinging to its surfaces. NASA now scrubs its spacecraft before launch to ensure the regions they explore are not contaminated with life forms from Earth, but that was not done with Galileo. Named after pioneering Italian astronomer Galileo, who first saw moons around Jupiter in 1610, the craft reached the gas giant in December 1995. A few months before arrival, it deployed a small probe which plunged through the thick Jovian atmosphere, beaming back vital data on the conditions around it before burning up. After that the mother ship began the first of 35 orbits around Jupiter and its army of 61 moons.
I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouche,scaramouche will you do the Fandango- Thunderbolt and lightning-very very frightening me- Galileo,Galileo, Galileo Galileo Galileo figaro-Magnifico- But I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me- He's just a poor boy from a poor family- Spare him his life from this monstrosity- Easy come easy go-,will you let me go- Bismillah! No-,we will not let you go-let him go- Bismillah! We will not let you go-let him go Bismillah! We will not let you go-let me go Will not let you go-let me go Will not let you go let me go No,no,no,no,no,no,no- Mama mia,mama mia,mama mia let me go- Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,for me,for me-
LOL Galileo is one of America's finest gifts to the ages. It photographed and documented more than any non-anal probe in history. *Fantastic* program. Can't wait for the Pluto probe to be launched in 2004. Also, heads up space buffs: NASA is cutting funding to the Hubble Telescope in 2008. That's right -- the single most popular program in the current space program is going kaput...but not without a fight!
I think I remember seeing it somewhere on TV. I think it was some asteriod that would have been disasterous if it hit Earth. IIRC, when it hit, a lot of the gases exploded and there was a "black eye" on Jupiter. (uh...I not the the eye, though...I don't think.) I think the mark was pretty huge too, at least when compared to Earth.
It was a Comet named Shoemaker-Levy 9 it broke into about 20 pieces and hit Jupiter with a force that created explosions many times the size of Earth. If something like that ever hit us...Game Over.
My thinking was that the Galileo would just vaporize upon entering Jupiter. At least that's what it said in the Houston Chronicle.
It's been a great success. And regarding the Hubble, I think they are nuts to not keep upgrading it (which they can) and using it for several more years. It's replacement may be much farther into the future than we thought. And it wouldn't hurt to have both.
I agree. I think space exploration is one of mankind's *greatest* endeavors, and I'd love to see what wonderful images the Hubble is still waiting to find! We're just getting our toes wet in the cosmic ocean, and I want to dive in!
