September 20, 2003
Galileo Probe to taste Jupiter before demise
September 21st will mark the end of a 12 year mission to Jupiter with the planned crashing of the space probe Galileo into Jupiter. Scientists are concerned that the probe, which is running out of propelent, will crash into Jupiter's moon Europa, and contaminate it with Earth scum. Europa is thought to one day harvest extra terestrial life, or be a space substation for humans in the distant future.
For the Galileo probe to reach Jupiter it had to use the gravity of Earth, and Venus, to propel into the outer reaches of our solar system. Galileo lanched in October of 1989 and witnessed many events, including a close up of the astroid, Ida, and the Shoemaker-Levy comet's dramatic end into Jupiters atmospher.
In all, Galileo took over 14,000 photographs of Jupiter, its rings, and many of her moons. Before the fatal crash into the Jupiter atmospher, the space probe will have traveled 2,878,053,500 miles.
2,878,053,500 miles!?! Geez...talk about being in serious need of an oil change:-)
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 20, 2003 04:47 PMRather a plutonium change maybe ? :-P
Posted by: kevin at September 20, 2003 05:33 PMnice first post bro, I cleaned it up a bit for ya :-)
Keep those great shots coming!
(Hangs head in a moment of silence while taps plays in the back ground)
Today we salute Galileo - the 1st kamikaze space probe (around Jupiter that is) to crash into Europa. May you rest in pieces....er, uh... I mean peace...and may we continue to learn, for years to come, from you brave journey.
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 21, 2003 10:21 AMon a more techy geek note- it's wackin into Jupiter it's self...and it will be disinigrated the second it hits the planets violent atmosphere :-( and we think hurricains and tornados are bad... YIKES
Posted by: kevin at September 21, 2003 02:46 PM"Wackin into Jupiter itself" huh? Ahhhhh...I stand corrected:-)
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 21, 2003 06:17 PMyes, "wackin' into Jupiter" is the tech term the guy from nasa said,,, i foget his name, but he had a pocket protector and a wore glass's that should narrow it down !
Posted by: kevin at September 22, 2003 11:01 AMLOL....Yes, Kevin, thank you. That does narrow it down a bit...to about 200 other people:-D
Besides, I actually LIKED the phrase "wakin' into Jupiter"...it left interpretation open to many things:-)
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 22, 2003 11:26 AM
*covers ears* oh no~!!!! SHHHH my virgin ears!
LOL....Oh no! What have I done:-O
Posted by: mrs. muddy at September 22, 2003 05:15 PM