This Week on Galileo - January 1997
Welcome back! Again we apologize for the late start to This week on Galileo. We are back on track just in time for a lull in the playback activity caused by the positions of the spacecraft, the Earth and the Sun. During the next couple of weeks, Galileo finds itself traveling on the other side of the Sun from the Earth. From this position, Galileo sends its radio signal very close to the Sun and communications are very difficult to impossible. The spacecraft will continue to operate normally and will be able to communicate again once it comes out from behind the Sun - on or about January 27.
In the meantime, lets take the opportunity to summarize what has been happening over the holidays. Recall that Galileo's encounter with the moon Europa ended on December 22. From then until the beginning of this week, 12 January, the spacecraft has been returning data from the encounter. Those plans included the return of high resolution images, data describing surface composition and fields and particles instrument data from the close flyby of Europa. Also included in those plans was the return of observations of hot spots, rings and a global mosaic of Jupiter. Io data included day and night observations, monitoring for volcanic activity and unique observations of Io while eclipsed from the Sun by Jupiter. Finally, the playback plans included a few observations of Adrastea, Amalthea and Ganymede.
The new Europa images will be released on this home page on January 17, 1997.
Our next update to This Week on Galileo will be posted when communications with Galileo are scheduled to resume on Monday, January 27th!