Galileo to crash into Jupiter

Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, September 16, 2003

[JohnHuang2]

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — NASA plans to crash its $1.5 billion Galileo into Jupiter to avoid the possibility that the aging spacecraft could contaminate one of the planet's moons with microbes from Earth.

Galileo will slip behind Jupiter at 12:49 p.m. PDT Sunday and then plunge into its vibrant and stormy atmosphere at nearly 108,000 mph.

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Quote of the Day by auntdot

[Smokin' Joe]

SIGH....No Return of the Blob....Jupiter mass extinctions related to alien probe....Other 'B' Movie scenarios come to mind....

[Starrgaizr]

The article sorta forgot the (unintended) crashes on Mars.

I had my kids and their classmates send their signatures to JPL to have them scanned and placed aboard the Cassini mission to Saturn, arriving next year. Can't wait.

[in the Arena]

My name is emblazoned on one of the satellites of the Iridium constellation...all engineers involved with the payload development were "immortalized" this way...everyone vied for #69...but we were relegated to #68. My greatest fear is that one of these birds degrades and crashes on a protected wetland harboring the endangered Eastern Golden-backed Sand Gnat...and the only piece left has my name on it. :O)

[Starrgaizr]

LOL! Nah, the invading space aliens find it and come looking for you.

I used an Iridium phone from northern Manitoba. A very un-cool thing to do at that wilderness fishing camp, but the signal was clear as could be, as long as I was standing outside.

A very cool engineering feat. Too bad about the economics of the project.

[geege]

Nice....we put all our signatures on a micro chip....including the family cats:0) from the Stardust mission which was launched in 1999 and is en route to Comet Wild 2......Also looking foward to 7/2004 when Cassini reaches Saturn.....

[in the Arena]

That's good to hear, I never did get to see a handset up close, it looked quite un-ergonomic to me. I felt bad about the program. I believe the technology was there but like you said, the economics weren't.

[Aracelis]

Ping

[RangerHobbit]

Cool. I have an 8-line poem onboard Cassini, an ode to my dogs past and space dogs in general. I knew being a member of the Planetary Society for 25 years would pay off one of these days (they let you send bad poetry into the cosmos). ;-)

[geege]

How nice....I'm sure the little "Titan" folks will love the poem and ode to the doggies:0)

[Fledermaus]

Worried about our microbes? They lived in the vacuum of space all this time on the probe?

Sounds like some NASA folks have been watching too much Star Trek. Have they invoked the Prime Directive?

[supercat]

I believe the technology was there but like you said, the economics weren't.

Isn't the government using the Irridium satelites for its military comm gear? Seems like a great deal for the taxpayers.

[in the Arena]

I'm not exactly sure, I've been out of the loop for a few years. A private company purchased the system from the Iridium consortium and are maintaining it...from what I've heard it's quite costly to maintain so I wouldn't doubt there is government backing. According to their web site:

"Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) offers
DoD and US Government non-DoD users with
Iridium products and services. The DoD has
established a dedicated Government EMSS
gateway in Hawaii.

At one time I believe I saw a picture of a Northern Alliance fighter holding an Iridium hand set...

[Truth666]

Worried about our microbes? They lived in the vacuum of space all this time on the probe?
Sounds like some NASA folks have been watching too much Star Trek.
I thinks this is even more creative :
"The planet-sized moon is widely believed to represent the most promising habitat for extraterrestrial life within the solar system. "

[TomB]

I thinks this is even more creative : "The planet-sized moon is widely believed to represent the most promising habitat for extraterrestrial life within the solar system. "

Why do you find that hard to believe?