Introduction to the Galileo Mission

Release from Shuttle Bay

The Galileo spacecraft was launched in October of 1989. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mission Navigation Team first sent the spacecraft past Venus and then Earth for gravity assists. The first deep space target was the asteroid Gaspra and from a flyby of this object the first ever close-up images of an asteroid were recorded and transmitted back to Earth. The Galileo spacecraft then swung by Earth once more for a final gravity assist, before finally reaching Jupiter in December 1995. On December 7 the Probe entered the atmosphere of Jupiter at 105,000 miles per hour. An aeroshell served as a heat shield and decelerated the probe to an entry velocity where the parachute could be deployed.

Illustration of Probe Descending

The Galileo Probe entered Jupiter's atmosphere on December 7, 1995. The probe descended on a parachute and took measurements of atmospheric structure and composition for nearly an hour before its signal disappeared at a pressure level of approximately 23 bar. The Galileo Orbiter orbiter received the data from the Probe and retransmitted it back to Earth and then continued on its tour of the Jovian system. Over the course of the next few years it continued to unravel the remarkable features of the Jupiter and its satellites such as likely oceans under the icy surface of Europa, giant storms on Jupiter, and significant geological activity on the surface of Io. Together the probe and the orbiter made significant advances in our understanding of the nature of this giant planet and its satellites. To learn generally about the Galileo Mission follow the JPL Galileo Project link. To learn about the chemical and isotopic data provided by the Galileo Probe Mass Spectrometer, click Here.