Today on Galileo - March 31, 1997
Galileo continues with its UVS (Ultraviolet Spectrometer) observations of Ganymede and Callisto's neutral torii. Earlier in the day, three optical navigation images of Adrastea will be taken and transmitted to earth. Although they will not be used to navigate the spacecraft, the information gathered from these images will allow the models of Adrastea's orbit to be improved by reducing the uncertainties in Adrastea's orbital position and velocity. These improvements will make it easier to plan future observations of Adrastea. You could say that the images will be used to navigate the instruments!
During the day the flight team will transmit the commands required to perform the last orbital trim maneuver prior to the spacecraft's encounter with Ganymede. Remember that last Friday and Saturday were spent taking optical navigation images used to help navigators determine whether the spacecraft's path required a final adjustment. The orbit trim maneuver will begin executing tonight and will complete executing tomorrow morning.