What Is the Galileo Project?

NASA's Galileo Project consists of two spacecraft: the orbiter and the atmospheric probe. The missions of these crafts are to investigate the Jovian (Jupiter) atmosphere. These crafts record data about gravity, magnetic fields and pressure around Jupiter and it's satellites.

Spacecraft

• NASA's Galileo Orbiter was launched on October 18, 1989. It is powered by radioisotope thermal generators. The Galileo Probe was released July 13, 1995. It entered the Jovian atmosphere on December 7, 1995. It is powered by storage batteries of 580 Watts.

Scientific "Firsts"

• The Galileo mission has accomplished several scientific "firsts." Galileo is the first mission to make a close flyby of an asteroid, the first to discover a satellite of an asteroid, the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, and it made the first observation of a comet impacting a planet.

Timeline

• The Galileo mission began in 1989. The atmospheric probe was released in July 1995. In December of 1995, the probe entered Jupiter's atmosphere. Also during December 1995, Galileo went into orbit around Jupiter. The mission monitored Jupiter's atmosphere and observed the planet's satellites for several years. Galileo's mission was extended twice, in 1997 and 1999. Eventually, the craft began to run out of fuel. In September 2003, mission managers intentionally crashed Galileo into Jupiter's atmosphere.