Journey to discover Jupiter's ship Galileo

On October 18, 1989, the US Space and Aeronautics Agency (NASA) successfully launched the ship named the astronomer famous Italian of the seventeenth century - Galileo. This is an unmanned spaceship that explores Jupiter and its satellites.

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Conceived from the 70s of the twentieth century, Galileo was expected to be launched in 1986, on the space shuttle named Challenger. But only about 45 seconds after being launched, a fireball exploded in the sky, the Challenger ship exploded, the plan to launch the Galileo was forced to stop.

Three years later, on October 18, 1989, from the Kennedy Space Base in Florida (USA), the new Galileo spacecraft was again put on the launch pad. The Galileo was powered by a small nuclear generator, and was put into orbit by the space shuttle Atlantis (also known as the STS Mission - 34), starting a long exploration journey. his year.

Galileo's main task is to study Jupiter, photograph, measure magnetic force and study dust and small matter particles. At the same time, the Galileo studied the material rings of Jupiter; check the past and present scale of volcanoes on Io - a satellite closest to Jupiter.

Galileo ship

During this trans-century flight, Galileo crossed over 4.5 billion kilometers, revolving around Moc Tinh 34 times, withstand radiation conditions 3.5 times higher than the design, and had activities. Important action contributes to the process of human research and research for Jupiter - the largest planet of the Sun.

Galileo provided evidence confirming observations by explorers about the eruption activities on the surface of the Io satellite; discover the existence of very intense currents in the atmosphere of Io satellites; confirms the existence of saltwater oceans under the icy surface of satellites Europa; find traces of saltwater on Ganymede and Callisto satellites, or for the first time detect the magnetic field of Ganymede satellite .

Fred Taylor, a professor of physics at Oxford University (UK) who worked for many years on this project commented: 'The flight provided basic information about Jupiter and its location in the system. the sun ' and ' Galileo have provided huge data, which will be a valuable resource for planetary science for many years or for decades to come ' . And Galilio's Project Director, Eilene Theilig, said: 'Galileo has been successful beyond expectations'.

At 18:57 on September 21, 2003, NASA's Galileo spacecraft was ordered to destroy itself, ending the 14-year career of Jupiter. The 2.5-ton ship had melted into ash when it hit Moc Tinh's upper atmosphere, gloriously ending its mission to explore the planet. Galileo's equipment was designed to last for 4 years but they were longer than the design.

This self-destruct scheme was carefully programmed by NASA so that the Galileo ship crashed into Jupiter, because if it kept orbiting its orbit, it could very well have crashed into the satellite Europa - where an ocean had been found. liquid water. The scientific community wants to keep this satellite intact, in order to keep signs of life for future expeditions.

Before the final moments, the Galileo spacecraft tried to maintain its equipment, with the aim of giving scientists the opportunity to make the final observations of Jupiter's outer atmosphere.

After Galileo finished his mission, NASA continued to plan to return to Jupiter with a new generation of spacecraft, powered by ion repulsion and small nuclear reactors, that project. Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter (aka JIMO vessel).

The ship may be launched into orbit around the individual moons of the planet. NASA hopes to launch it within the next decade. And this new flight is expected to be 100 times more powerful than Galileo. But anyway, the glorious victories that the unmanned spacecraft named the world famous scientist Galileo still makes it one of the spacecraft with the most useful expedition journey.