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Jupiter probe gears up for last mission
By Richard Stenger
(CNN) -- The Galileo spacecraft is warming up its instruments ahead of a final scientific assignment, a flyby of a tiny moon situated inside the perilous radiation belts of Jupiter. The aging NASA probe will make its final pass over a jovian satellite November 5 when it buzzes over Amalthea, an oddly shaped boulder about 155 miles (250 kilometers) long. The moon visit will help position the $1.4 billion craft, which has orbited Jupiter for nearly seven years, for a plunge into the giant planet in 2003. This week, Galileo engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent radio signals commanding the bus-sized craft to turn on devices that will monitor dust streams, atomic particles and magnetic fields as it nears the inner satellite. Additional orders will make sure its steering and power systems are in working order. Despite a few glitches with its data playback device some months ago, the preparations were going well, according to NASA. "Everything is going as planned. There were some anomalies with the tape recorder, but there was been a lot of testing and it's working ok now," JPL spokesman Guy Webster said this week. Shortly after passing the moon, Galileo will fly closer to Jupiter than it ever has before. The flyby could help scientists learn more about Jupiter's diffuse inner rings, which are less studied than its thicker outer rings.
"We hope to get an idea about the particle size, distribution and orbital movement of rings thought to come from debris of Amalthea and Thebe," said Webster, referring to another diminutive inner satellite. To be on the safe side, Galileo's camera will remain shuttered during the flyby. It has malfunctioned numerous times in recent years and mission scientists do not want to risk more troubles. The probe has weathered about three times more radiation than designed to withstand during repeated dips near Jupiter. But the camera, like other Galileo instruments, eventually yielded to the hostile environs. Overall, it has proved remarkably resilient, taking more than 10,000 images while documenting molten volcanoes on Io, a comet strike on Jupiter and strange ice patterns on Europa. Next September, Galileo will drop into the crushing atmosphere of Jupiter, ensuring that it does not strike and contaminate Europa, which scientists think could harbor microbial life.
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