Galileo Probe Orbital Elements

The Galileo Probe was an instrumented atmospheric probe delivered to Jupiter to explore the Jovian environment. The Probe separated from the Galileo Orbiter on July 13, 1995. It "flew" for 147 days on a ballistic trajectory to Jupiter arriving at the Probe Entry site on December 7, 1995.

There are two sets of orbital elements. One set is from the time of separation from the Orbiter to the point where the central body for the orbit changed from Sun-centered to Jupiter-centered. The last set of elements continues to the point of Probe Entry at Jupiter.

The orbital elements are Keplerian (semi-major axis, eccentricity, inclination, node angle, arg of periapsis, and mean anomaly). The reference frame is Earth ecliptic and equinox of J2000. The central body for each set of elements is listed as well as the epoch and applicable period of time.

Times are given in both Julian date format in ephemeris time (ET) and calendar date format in Greenwich mean time (GMT). For the general exposure that these elements will receive, GMT has been used and is understood to be the same as universal time (UTC). To clarify any ambiguity between these two time formats, the delta-time (ET minus UTC) and the epoch of each value of delta-time are:

     61.184 seconds        01 July 1994

elements preceding this set are the Interplanetary Elements. The The remaining elements for the Galileo spacecraft are found in the Tour Elements for the primary mission and GEM Elements for the extended mission.

PROBE RELEASE TO CENTRAL BODY CHANGE (FROM SUN TO JUPITER):
Orbital Elements valid from J.D. = 2449911.72990 ET (95/07/13 05:30:02 GMT)
                       to   J.D. = 2449974.62493 ET (95/09/14 02:58:53 GMT)
Epoch of Orbital Elements:  J.D. = 2449911.72990 ET (95/07/13 05:30:02 GMT)
    Classical Orbital Elements
    Sun centered, Earth ecliptic and equinox of J2000
 Semi-major Axis    463816798.7     km
 Eccentricity       .708857
 Inclination        1.767           degree
 Node Angle        -103.503         degree
 Arg of Periapsis  -173.617         degree
 Mean Anomaly       166.968         degree

PROBE AT CENTRAL BODY CHANGE (FROM SUN TO JUPITER) TO PROBE ENTRY:
Orbital Elements valid from J.D. = 2449974.62493 ET (95/09/14 02:58:53 GMT)
                       to   J.D. = 2450059.42066 ET (95/12/07 22:04:44 GMT)
Epoch of Orbital Elements:  J.D. = 2449974.62493 ET (95/09/14 02:58:53 GMT)
    Classical Orbital Elements
    Jupiter centered, Earth ecliptic and equinox of J2000
 Semi-major Axis   -4136960.1       km
 Eccentricity       1.017167
 Inclination        7.954           degree
 Node Angle         28.265          degree
 Arg of Periapsis   132.171         degree
 Mean Anomaly      -561.523         degree

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