Galileo's Last Look

Launched 13 years ago, a rugged spacecraft send its last postcards from Jupiter.

  • By Tony Reichhardt
  • Air & Space magazine, September 2002

Photo Gallery (1/10)

Tohil Mons, a 19,700-foot-high mountain, is at the center of this mosaic of images taken during Galileo’s close flyby of Io on October 16, 2001. One of the highest-resolution pictures taken during the six-year mission, the scene shows details measuring as little as 160 feet. Flanking the mountain are two paterae, or volcanic craters, with a web-like pattern of lava flows visible at the upper right. Galileo tried to take another round of pictures of Io in January, but the blistering radiation near Jupiter caused the spacecraft to shut down temporarily.

See more photos from the story


IT COULDN'T LAST FOREVER. IN FACT, it was supposed to have ended a long time ago. Galileo, the first spacecraft to orbit any of the large planets beyond Mars, may have been the most delayed mission in NASA’s history. It was originally scheduled to launch in 1982, reach Jupiter three years later, and wrap up by 1987. But a series of setbacks with the space shuttle and Galileo’s attached booster rocket pushed the launch to 1989 and arrival to 1995.

Although the looping tour through the Jovian system was planned to end two years later, Galileo’s mission was extended twice so scientists could get closer pictures of Europa, with its iced-over ocean, and the other large satellites: Io, Ganymede, and Callisto. Now at last, the end is near. In September 2003, with hardly any maneuvering fuel left, Galileo will end its last orbit with a plunge into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Browse through Galileo's images in the photo gallery at right.

 

IT COULDN'T LAST FOREVER. IN FACT, it was supposed to have ended a long time ago. Galileo, the first spacecraft to orbit any of the large planets beyond Mars, may have been the most delayed mission in NASA’s history. It was originally scheduled to launch in 1982, reach Jupiter three years later, and wrap up by 1987. But a series of setbacks with the space shuttle and Galileo’s attached booster rocket pushed the launch to 1989 and arrival to 1995.

Although the looping tour through the Jovian system was planned to end two years later, Galileo’s mission was extended twice so scientists could get closer pictures of Europa, with its iced-over ocean, and the other large satellites: Io, Ganymede, and Callisto. Now at last, the end is near. In September 2003, with hardly any maneuvering fuel left, Galileo will end its last orbit with a plunge into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Browse through Galileo's images in the photo gallery at right.

 


 
Comments

Post a Comment


Name: (required)

Email: (required)

Comment:

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until Smithsonian.com has approved them. Smithsonian reserves the right not to post any comments that are unlawful, threatening, offensive, defamatory, invasive of a person's privacy, inappropriate, confidential or proprietary, political messages, product endorsements, or other content that might otherwise violate any laws or policies.



Advertisement


Advertisement


Follow Us

Snapshot

Refueling Angel Thunder

An airman pulls a fuel line in the desert as part of a massive interagency exercise.

Reader Scrapbook

Discovery's Tail-Cone Fitting

Check out our scrapbook of readers' aviation and space pictures. Then add your own.

Smithsonian Store

Smithsonian Journeys