Galileo (spacecraft)

Galileo
Artist's concept of Galileo at Io with Jupiter in the background. In reality, the high-gain foldable antenna failed to deploy in flight.
NamesJupiter Orbiter Probe
Mission typeJupiter orbiter
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1989-084B Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.20298
Websitesolarsystem.nasa.gov/galileo/
Mission duration
  • Planned: 8 years, 1 month, 19 days
  • Jupiter orbit: 7 years, 9 months, 13 days
  • Final: 13 years, 11 months, 3 days
Distance travelled4,631,778,000 km (2.88 billion mi)[1]
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer
Launch mass
  • Total: 2,560 kg (5,640 lb)[2]
  • Orbiter: 2,220 kg (4,890 lb)[2]
  • Probe: 340 kg (750 lb)[2]
Dry mass
  • Orbiter: 1,880 kg (4,140 lb)[2]
  • Probe: 340 kg (750 lb)[2]
Payload mass
  • Orbiter: 118 kg (260 lb)[2]
  • Probe: 30 kg (66 lb)[2]
Power
  • Orbiter: 570 watts at launch,[2] 493 watts on arrival,[3] 410 watts at end-of-life
  • Probe: 730 watt-hours[2]
Start of mission
Launch dateOctober 18, 1989, 16:53:40 (1989-10-18UTC16:53:40) UTC
RocketSpace Shuttle Atlantis
STS-34/IUS
Launch siteKennedy LC-39B
Entered serviceDecember 8, 1995, 01:16 UTC SCET
End of mission
DisposalControlled entry into Jupiter
Decay dateSeptember 21, 2003, 18:57:18 (2003-09-21UTC18:57:19) UTC
Large Strategic Science Missions
Planetary Science Division

Galileo was an American robotic space probe that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as the asteroids Gaspra and Ida. Named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, it consisted of an orbiter and an entry probe. It was delivered into Earth orbit on October 18, 1989, by Space Shuttle Atlantis, during STS-34. Galileo arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, after gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth, and became the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet.[4]

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory built the Galileo spacecraft and managed the Galileo program for NASA. West Germany's Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm supplied the propulsion module. NASA's Ames Research Center managed the atmospheric probe, which was built by Hughes Aircraft Company. At launch, the orbiter and probe together had a mass of 2,562 kg (5,648 lb) and stood 6.15 m (20.2 ft) tall.

Spacecraft are normally stabilized either by spinning around a fixed axis or by maintaining a fixed orientation with reference to the Sun and a star. Galileo did both. One section of the spacecraft rotated at 3 revolutions per minute, keeping Galileo stable and holding six instruments that gathered data from many different directions, including the fields and particles instruments.

Galileo was intentionally destroyed in Jupiter's atmosphere on September 21, 2003. The next orbiter to be sent to Jupiter was Juno, which arrived on July 5, 2016.

  1. ^ "The Final Day on Galileo" (Press release). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. September 21, 2003. Archived from the original on September 30, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Galileo Jupiter Arrival" (PDF) (Press Kit). NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory. December 1995.
  3. ^ Taylor, Cheung & Seo 2002, p. 86.
  4. ^ "Galileo – Overview". NASA Solar System Exploration. Retrieved December 7, 2021.