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The Beginning
It was discovered the Jupiter had less radiation than believed when Pioneer 10 went zooming by the planet. This lead to scientists getting excited nad wanting to send a spacecraft to Jupiter. It was more possible now that the radiation was proven to be lower because a spacecraft wouldn't cost as much because it wouldn't need super-heavy shields to protect from radiation. -
The Jupiter Orbiting Probe
NASA proposed a probe that would orbit Jupiter to get more information and data about the planet, but when presented to Congress, it was denied. Due to extreme upheaval of the scientific community, Congress ended up approving the probe later in the year. -
Finally launching
After twelve years of waiting, the spacecraft, which had been named Galileo, would start its mission after launching from the Payload Bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis. -
The asteroid Ida
On the path to Jupiter, Galileo passed two asteroids, however only one was important. The important asteroid was Ida. The reason Ida was so important is the fact that it had a moon orbiting it. -
No Signal
The first of Galileo's troubles showed itself when the antenna that was supposed to send signals back to Earth proved to be broken, resulting in the use of the back-up antenna. -
Arrival at Jupiter
Galileo finally arrives at Jupiter after 6 years of travel. -
Probing Jupiter
Galileo sent a probe towards Jupiter. The probe measured atmospheric pressure, density, and composition. The probe also explored the planet's radiation belts. All together the probe found very little water and a lot of helium, showing that the area was very dry. -
More trouble for Galileo
The next problem was the recorder which ended up jamming for 15 hours. -
Orbiting Jupiter
Galileo starts to orbit Jupiter. During the orbit, Galileo observes numerous things about the moons that also orbited Jupiter. -
Water on the moons?
While orbiting, Galileo found evidence of saltwater below the surfaces of three of Jupiter's moons, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. -
Rings of Jupiter
While orbiting Jupiter, Galileo got a close up on Jupiter's rings that showed that meteoroids had crashed into Jupiter's small moons and sent dust up into the atmosphere surroing the planet, which eventually formed into rings after hundreds of years. -
The moon, Lo
While orbiting Jupiter, the moons of Jupiter were on full display, especially Lo. Galileo discovered that Lo not only had high volcanic activity, but it also has a metallic core, just like Europa, and Ganymede while Callisto does not. -
Ganymede
A lot of things were discovered about Ganymede while Galileo orbited Jupiter, but one of the big things was that Ganymede makes its own magnetic field, making it the only moon known to do so. -
Atmospheres of Jupiter's moons
Galileo found that Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto all have extremely thin atmospheres while orbiting Jupiter. -
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
Galileo, the only spacecraft to get an image of Jupiter being hit by Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. -
Out of Fuel
After orbiting Jupiter for years, Galileo finally ran out of fuel. The last thing that the NASA scientists did with Galileo is having it kamikazi Jupiter instead of having it hit one of Jupiter's moons, Europa. The reason for protecting Europa was that Europa had been suspected to have a subsurface ocean that could possibly contain life.