Galileo safely passed the approach to Io

Avi Blizovsky

The Galileo spacecraft in a "make or break" operation managed to arrive
up to a height of 600 kilometers above the surface of the island - the moon
Jupiter's volcano. "Everything looks perfectly fine" says a manager
The project, Jim Erickson Erickson's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA in Pasadena, California.

The strong radiation emitted from it threatened to harm the performance of the parts
The electrons in the spacecraft's navigation systems, but an hour later
The biggest approximation, Erickson says, is that all systems are working
in a normal way.
Duane Binchandler, the scientific director of the Galileo operation, says that
The meeting was important because "Io is a natural laboratory for volcanoes.
Through its close-up shots, we can learn how and when eruptions occur
Volcanoes and why they act the way they do. It may even
Help us predict the behavior of volcanoes on Earth. She
summarizes

Wayne Siebel, deputy project manager comments that the Galileo launch is so
Close to Io, in an area where there is such a dense radiation field, it might have been
be fatal for the spacecraft. But he says that the meeting was worth it
the risk, and it gives Galileo a good ending to its 4-year mission
the years
"There was a danger that if enough radiation would damage the electronic components,
She will not survive this transition. Because of this possibility, we designed the
The meeting for the end of the spacecraft's operating period. This is a calculated risk
that we can obtain close data from such an important scientific goal as
Ayo." he added.
Erickson says that Galileo experienced few computer glitches during the course
The encounter with Ayu when she passed through the most compressed part of a belt
the radiation "But we managed to work around the problems and restart the
the computer. However, we will never know if the malfunction occurred as a result
from the radiation or for some other reason."
Due to the old malfunction in Galileo's main transmitter, the images will arrive
to Earth slowly, and NASA will start publishing them in just a month
November. But Erickson says Galileo continues to transmit data
Self-position time and route after the approach flight.

9/10/1999

Galileo is preparing for a dangerous encounter with Io this coming Monday

However, the operators of the spacecraft fear that it will be damaged
Because of the enormous radiation in your vicinity, you are prepared
risk sacrificing the spaceship for the chance to gain
Good pictures of the volcanoes
By Avi Blizovsky
The Galileo spacecraft, which is on a 4-year journey in the Jupiter system and its moons
It is scheduled to meet on October 11 with the moon Io, which is the body
The most volcanic in the entire solar system. Galileo will approach up to a height of
612 kilometers above the hot surface of Io at 1.06
At night (7:06 a.m. Israel time because it's still on the east coast
there is summer time), and the devices on board will take the pictures
Ayo's closest so far.
"Io is a natural laboratory for volcanic activity," says Dr. Doan
Bindschadler manages the planning of the scientific markers
In the Galileo project. By studying an island closely, we can learn
When and how volcanoes erupt and why they act the way they do
working This will help to understand the eruptions of volcanoes on Earth."
saying.
During the upcoming flight, the scientists will decipher using the instruments
Data about the chemistry of Io, the heat distribution there, the gravity
and the magnetic fields of the fair moon. As mentioned, this is in addition to the photos
in visible light and other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
This will be a treasure for the scientists and yet for the approaching engineers
This will be a big challenge due to the danger arising from the radiation belt of
Tzedek (which he does not reside in), and which the strong radiation can damage
in the spacecraft's performance and even paralyze some of its instruments. Anyway, too
A small percentage of the radiation they will be willing to allow into the spacecraft is radiation
enough to kill people if they were there.
"We expect the spacecraft to survive this approach, though
The radiation can paralyze the computers or possibly even cause damage
irreversible to critical electronic components," says Wayne Siebel,
Wayne Sible, Deputy Director of the Galileo Project. There is also a possibility that if
The spaceship will catch too strong radiation
She won't even survive the passage near an island. Because of the possibility
This time, we planned the approach to Io towards the end of the two years of the extension
The project (the project was supposed to end in December 1997, but
It was extended by two years and the spacecraft explored Jupiter's moons in them - mainly
Europe). After orbiting Jupiter for nearly four years,
The spacecraft more than met the mission's goals, so that seems plausible
Let's take a calculated risk and take a closer look at the goal it has
A wealth of scientific data.
To prepare for possible damage during the approach, the engineers programmed
Sophisticated software to help the spaceship get out of the crisis on its own and leave
Out of the island area, as soon as she feels a slight change in one action
or more than her devices. Due to the distance to Jupiter, it is not possible to navigate the
The spaceship is in real time, and therefore it is necessary to provide it with some intelligence
Self.

Galileo is the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter in an orderly manner
For a long time (Pioneer Voyager spacecraft in the seventies
And the XNUMXs only passed by Jupiter and perhaps circled it once). since
It provided thousands of color images of Jupiter and its moons, for example
confirmed the existence of a liquid ocean under the ice block on the moon
Europe - an essential element in the possibility of life there. Thanks for the info
Sent by Galileo, today scientists know a lot of data about temperament
The air on Jupiter and the composition of its moons. On the way to Jupiter, the spacecraft managed to take pictures
Close up of the asteroids Gaspara and Ida, and photographed the destruction
Caused by fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that crashed into Jupiter in 1994
These achievements are worthy of mention because on her way to justice there was a mishap
In the main antenna that transmits the data to Earth, and so it is
can transfer only one thousand bits per second instead of 134 thousand as planned,
This slows down the possibility of research using the spacecraft.
If all goes well, the scientists are planning an even bolder operation
On November 26 - another approach to Io, and this time to a height of 300
kilometers.

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