Galileo Status Report
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
The Galileo spacecraft resumed normal operations this morning after a software conflict caused it to enter a safe mode Friday afternoon.
Before the event, the spacecraft was in the process of transmitting data from Galileo's atmospheric probe stored in the orbiter's main computer that duplicated data already sent to Earth in mid-December. While the spacecraft was preparing for a change in orientation to keep its low-gain antenna pointed toward Earth, its onboard computer encountered a conflict with a relic of special fault-protection software sent to the spacecraft before its Jupiter arrival in December. That conflict prompted it to enter the safe mode.
Project team members described the event as minor, noting that it will have no impact on the mission or on Galileo's ability to transmit data collected by its atmospheric descent probe on Dec. 7. During the six years since its launch, Galileo has entered safe mode a dozen times for other reasons.
Following the event, engineers sent commands to the spacecraft to restart scheduled operations, perform the planned turn and continue transmitting probe science data. The spacecraft responded normally to those commands.
Telemetry indicates that the spacecraft is in excellent health, spinning at about 3 rpm. Galileo is 13 million kilometers (8 million miles) from Jupiter, in its first looping orbit around the giant planet. It is 937 million kilometers (582 million miles) from Earth. Two-way communication continues to be excellent.