Galileo Mission Status - Novmeber 18, 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 is returning pictures and a wide variety of other scientific information gathered during this month's Europa encounter, which was the final flyby of Galileo's primary mission.
This week's playback of recorded data includes observations performed by the solid state imaging camera (SSI). The observations contain information about an area of Europa near the terminator, which is the division between nightside and dayside. This area includes the Mannann'an crater, mottled terrain, wedge- shaped bands and "triple bands." Scientists believe the bands represent areas where Europa's icy surface has cracked. Another SSI image to be returned later this week studies an unexplored region of Europa, with imaging performed under specific lighting conditions designed to highlight the shape of an odd spot on Europa's surface. The near infrared mapping spectrometer (NIMS) observations transmitted this week include a region of straight and curved triple bands.
Galileo will spend much of the week playing back information gathered during a recent observation performed by the fields-and- particles instruments as the spacecraft flew through Jupiter's magnetic equator. This information will help scientists study the structure and dynamics of the huge planet's magnetic and electric fields.
Jupiter's fiery moon, Io, is featured in an SSI observation transmitted this week. The observation studies the reflection of light off the moon's surface to help identify the nature of the materials present on Io.
Transmission of the recorded data will be interrupted briefly on Friday, Nov. 21, when the spacecraft turns slightly to keep its radio antenna pointed toward Earth, an adjustment that is necessary from time to time to keep pace with Earth as it moves across the Jupiter sky. Galileo project engineers anticipate two more trajectory adjustments, unrelated to this week's antenna adjustment turn, to prepare the spacecraft for its Dec. 16 Europa flyby. This encounter, the first of the Galileo extended mission, will dip down to 200 kilometers (124 miles) above Europa's surface, making it the closest Europa flyby ever to be performed by Galileo. The mission extension, known as the Galileo Europa Mission, or GEM, continues through December 1999 and features eight Europa flybys, four Callisto encounters and one or two close flybys of Io, as long as the spacecraft remains healthy.
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