The Galileo Mission To Jupiter and the Jovian System.By: Drew and Colleen

WHAT IS IT? ~The Galileo Spacecraft (named after Galileo Galilei: first modern astronomer who first discovered Jupiter’s Moons in 1610) ~Studies of the Jovian System (Jupiter’s 63 moons) But mostly about the main four (Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto) Io

Callisto

Ganymede

Europa

The Jovian

System

WHEN WAS IT?• Launched: October 18th, 1989 • Arrived: December 1995• Orbited 34 times before it hit Surface: Sept. 21st

2003

The Galileo Spacecraft

PURPOSE• Studying volcanic activity on Io• Studying icy terrains and below surface lakes and

oceans of Europe

Craters and Volcanoes on Io

Surface of Europa thought to have an ocean of water beneath the surface

PURPOSE CONTINUED• To photograph:-Europa -Io -Ganymede

-The demise of comet: Shoemaker-levy 9 as it hit Jupiter in 1994 to be demolished by the severe thunderstorms and wind storms of Jupiter’s atmosphere.

RISKS & BENFITS RISKS BENEFITS

• no humans on the ship to risk lives

• launch failure (didn’t happen)

• technical difficulties while in space (did happen)

• connection issues – from space craft to earth transmission ( did happen)

• we learned about Jupiter’s atmosphere

• long term systems of the Jovian System

-the surface of the moons (volcanoes, water, etc.) • the weather of Jupiter

(thunderstorms, dust storms)-compared to Earth,

Jupiter’s weather is more than 100 times more powerful than our weather systems

• We can plan future research based on what we have accomplished.

GALILEO FACTS• Pioneer 10&11 and Voyager1&2

previously explored• NASA contributed to the launch

off the same payload bay of Space shuttle Atlantis

• No staff names we found were directly linked to the Galileo mission but most of the people listed on the NASA website who were working within the Jet Propulsion Laboratories contributed in some way or another.

• One of the antennae failed to open (threatening data transmission to earth) during the mission

• On October 11th 1995 the tape jammed for 15 hours during the approach to Jupiter

FUTURE RESEARCH• NASA wants to spend $2 billion

dollars to develop nuclear-powered space crafts

• They have built a space craft called JIMO (Jupiter’s Icy Moon Orbiter) that’s was expected to launch sometime after 2011

• After the Europa satellite planned to weigh just 300kg scientists believed rocket fuel would not be sufficient enough to get all the way to Jupiter, if the ship was that small

• And even if it did the radiation from Jupiter’s two biggest and closest natural satellites ( Io and Europa) would destroy the ship.

BIBLIOGRAPHY" Spacecraft Galileo: To Jupiter and Its Moons | Space.com ." Space and NASA News – Universe and Deep Space Information | Space.com . N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. <http://www.space.com/18632-galileo-spacecraft.html>.

"Jupiter's Moons: a list of all of its moons - Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System." Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. <http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/jupitermoons.htm>.

LORENZ, RALPH. "Spaceflight Now | Galileo | Future Jupiter exploration on the drawing boards." Spaceflight Now. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. <http://spaceflightnow.com/galileo/030921jimo.html>.

"Solar System Exploration: Galileo Legacy Site: Discovery Highlights." Solar System Exploration. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galileo/discovery.cfm>.

"Solar System Exploration: Galileo Legacy Site: Discovery Highlights." Solar System Exploration. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galileo/discovery.cfm>.

"photo journal." photo journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. <photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA00600_modest.jpg>.

-Drew and Colleen

THANKS!