Europa Wedges
The recent NASA Galileo mission brought back to Earth exciting, new images of the surface of Jupiter's icy moon, Europa. These images show a variety of fascinating geological features, such as wedges, fractures, flows produced by ice volcanism, low ridges and pits. These features not only suggest that Jupiter's moon may be geologically active, but may hold evidence that a liquid ocean exists or once existed under Europa's icy crust. To understand how scientists interpret these features on Europa, you will first need to learn more about geologic processes on Earth, such as plate tectonics, sea floor spreading, and cross-cutting relationships.

Paper Spacecraft Model
We invite you to build your own Galileo spacecraft scale model.

First, browse the assembly instructions. Then, if you decide to tackle the project, you can download the six parts sheets to print, cut out, and glue together. If you click on the image above, you'll see some more views of the assembled Galileo scale model.

You'll need a black & white printer, some card stock, a transparency, and a few other items which are listed in the assembly instructions. The parts sheets are available as PDF files, which can be read by the Adobe Acrobat Reader on just about any kind of computer. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, you may download the free software by clicking here on Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Galileo is one of the most complex robotic spacecraft ever flown. This detailed scale model is a construction project which is probably not appropriate for people younger than about ten years of age, depending on skill and motivation. Assembly requires several hours' time and great care. Once you assemble the model, we guarantee you'll know the Galileo spacecraft very well indeed!

Galileo Activity Guide
This activity guide outlines some suggested classroom activities that incorporate Galileo educators' resources. Many of these activities are similar to the actual type of work performed (or the techniques used) by scientists and engineers working on the project. Similarly, the suggested discussion topics reflect the types of questions that scientists and engineers would raise in the course of their work.