Galileo Mission Status - September 23, 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
The Galileo spacecraft has completed the third and final Callisto flyby of its primary mission. The spacecraft flew past the Jovian satellite Tuesday at 5:55 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time in Earth-received time at an altitude of 538 kilometers (334 miles).
During the seven-day encounter period, Galileo's near infrared mapping spectrometer (NIMS) took a global look at Callisto, and the ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS) instrument looked for evidence that a neutral cloud of particles surrounds Callisto. The spacecraft continued its second mini-tour of the Jovian magnetosphere and observed the north polar region of the Jovian atmosphere, including the auroras and haze zones, which are areas of hazy clouds driven by the production of Jovian auroras.
In addition to Callisto, the spacecraft observed the three other large Jovian moons--Ganymede, Europa and Io--and four of Jupiter's smaller moons. Playback of data from this Callisto encounter began on Sunday, Sept. 21, and continues through this week.
Galileo is now in a cruise period that will last nearly seven weeks, until early November, when the spacecraft begins the 10th and final encounter of its primary mission. That flyby will take place on November 6, as Galileo swoops past Europa at an altitude of 2,042 kilometers (1,269 miles).
The spacecraft's primary mission concludes on December 7 of this year. However, an extended mission will continue for two additional years, with the spacecraft conducting an intensive study of Europa. One or two close flybys of Io are planned for late 1999, depending on spacecraft health.
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