Galileo Mission Status - February 27, 1997
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
NASA's Galileo spacecraft has begun returning data from its latest flyby of Jupiter's icy moon, Europa, which took place last Thursday, Feb. 20. The spacecraft's closest approach to Europa was at 9:06 a.m. Pacific time, with confirmation received on Earth at 9:56 a.m. Galileo's flyby was within one kilometer of the target altitude of 586 kilometers.
Galileo engineers will send commands to the spacecraft tonight to correct a magnetometer software glitch that was discovered following the flyby. Although the problem caused the loss of flyby magnetometer data, similar data was collected during Galileo's previous Europa flyby and more will be gathered during the third encounter of that moon in November. Engineers expect the problem to be resolved within a few more days.
Recorded data playback began last Saturday evening and will continue through March 28, with initial data to include recent observations of Jupiter and its moon, Io. Transmission of the new Europa observations will begin later this week and continue through next week. New Europa images may be released within a few weeks.
This flyby, the closest of three Europa encounters for Galileo's primary mission, recorded data on a linea region which may represent a stress-controlled eruption or intrusion of material from beneath Europa's icy surface. This could be another sign of liquid oceans hidden underneath.
Scientists gathered data about Europa's atmosphere during the flyby when Europa crossed between Earth and Galileo, temporarily cutting off the spacecraft's radio signal. This radio occultation experiment uses the disturbances to the spacecraft radio signal as it passes close to Europa to infer information about Europa's tenuous atmosphere.
Data to be returned this week include observations of Jupiter's "white ovals" -- huge storms fueled by an unknown energy source; surface changes and volcanic plume activity on Jupiter's moon, Io; and an image of one of Jupiter's smaller moons, Thebe.
Galileo has five more encounters of Jupiter's moons on its two-year primary mission journey through the Jovian system. The next destination is Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede on Apr. 5, 1997. A planned follow-on mission would run from December 1997 through December 1999 and would include 15 encounters.
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