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Galileo's Last Words
ugordan
post Dec 10 2005, 08:32 PM
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Well, not Galileo Galilei's as you might have expected biggrin.gif

It's been over 2 years since Galileo plunged into the depths of Jupiter's atmosphere. Those few last hours of real time data were supposed to be the closest measurements to Jupiter thus far (neglecting the atmospheric probe). As I recall, Galileo actually didn't go into safe mode as with so many other close passes so there's supposed to have been data collected all the way through the spacecraft's disappearance behind Jupiter's disk.

Were any surprises or interesting results found in the data collected? Any hints into irregularities of Jupiter's magnetic field or tantalizing stuff like that?


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dvandorn
post Dec 11 2005, 03:25 AM
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I think I heard somewhere that the very, last, final message received from Galileo was "HGA deployed"...

laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif

-the other Doug


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mike
post Dec 11 2005, 03:42 AM
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Heheheh.. It wasn't really stuck, they just hadn't truly considered all the options. smile.gif I like that idea.
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djellison
post Dec 11 2005, 11:22 AM
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iirc - Galileo actually entered the atmosphere out of visibility from Earth to the very last moments wouldnt have been visible.

Doug
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ugordan
post Dec 11 2005, 11:56 AM
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QUOTE (djellison @ Dec 11 2005, 12:22 PM)
iirc - Galileo actually entered the atmosphere out of visibility from Earth to the very last moments wouldnt have been visible.
*

That's true. But really, we're talking about a couple of minutes or so anyway. I'm not interested in what its very last transmission was, more if there was any good science performed on the way in. Revealing something that wasn't quite expected, of that sort...

Dvandorn: That was hilarious! biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif


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Guest_Richard Trigaux_*
post Dec 11 2005, 12:14 PM
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QUOTE (ugordan @ Dec 11 2005, 11:56 AM)
That's true. But really, we're talking about a couple of minutes or so anyway. I'm not interested in what its very last transmission was, more if there was any good science performed on the way in. Revealing something that wasn't quite expected, of that sort...

Dvandorn: That was hilarious!  biggrin.gif  biggrin.gif  biggrin.gif
*


interesting stuff could have be occultation of Galileo last signal by the atmosphere, or the bottom end of the radiation belt. This could have be measured. Not expecting for close images of Jupiter, there was no time to transmit them, even with the HGA laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif
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ugordan
post Dec 11 2005, 12:22 PM
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QUOTE (Richard Trigaux @ Dec 11 2005, 01:14 PM)
interesting stuff could have be occultation of Galileo last signal by the atmosphere, or the bottom end of the radiation belt. This could have be measured. Not expecting for close images of Jupiter, there was no time to transmit them, even with the HGA
*

I'm wondering how scientifically useful the radio occultation would be, seeing how the low gain antenna had a poor S/N ratio. I don't expect it could have probed very deep into the atmosphere. Also, is it even possible to have telemetry downlink at the same time as radio science tracking?
As for the images, none were planned nor taken as they couldn't be downloaded in time anyway. Besides, turning the camera on would greatly increase the chances of Galileo safing yet again, IMO...


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tedstryk
post Dec 11 2005, 02:26 PM
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QUOTE (ugordan @ Dec 11 2005, 12:22 PM)
I'm wondering how scientifically useful the radio occultation would be, seeing how the low gain antenna had a poor S/N ratio. I don't expect it could have probed very deep into the atmosphere. Also, is it even possible to have telemetry downlink at the same time as radio science tracking?
As for the images, none were planned nor taken as they couldn't be downloaded in time anyway. Besides, turning the camera on would greatly increase the chances of Galileo safing yet again, IMO...
*



I know that on approach, the star tracker spotted one of the little objects at the orbit of Amalthea that it spotted during the Amalthea flyby (which was especially significant in the real time, low rate mode it was working in.


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Guest_BruceMoomaw_*
post Dec 11 2005, 09:17 PM
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What they were mainly after from the lowest-altitude measurements was more data on the precise configuration of the magnetic field. They got all the returned data they were after, but I haven't seen any published conclusions. (The one thing they didn't get that they'd hoped for was a 2-way tracking lock during the Amalthea flyby, which somewhat reduced the sensitivity of their gravity measurements -- they were still able to accurately estimate Amalthea's mass, but not its internal mass distribution.)
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edstrick
post Dec 12 2005, 09:13 AM
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I recall hearing a statement to the effect that Galileo's signal was lost, I recall an impression of "abruptly", some time, maybe a half hour, before the expected time of L.O.S. due to occultation, possibly in the highest radiation dose-rate zone. But I've never seen any detailed report on "the final plunge"

Note that the probe got a measure of penetrating radiation after it turned on above the atmosphere out to a significant distance above the entry point.
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Guest_Richard Trigaux_*
post Dec 12 2005, 10:06 AM
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QUOTE (edstrick @ Dec 12 2005, 09:13 AM)
I recall hearing a statement to the effect that Galileo's signal was lost, I recall an impression of "abruptly", some time, maybe a half hour, before the expected time of L.O.S. due to occultation, possibly in the highest radiation dose-rate zone.  But I've never seen any detailed report on "the final plunge"

Note that the probe got a measure of penetrating radiation after it turned on above the atmosphere out to a significant distance above the entry point.
*


Half an hour? That makes still a great distance. Perhaps the probe had a software failure due to radiation, or a DC/DC converter was knocked off, or other nasty radiation effect. If a probe could feel pain...
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edstrick
post Dec 12 2005, 10:47 AM
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Uh.. confusion of spacecraft. The Galileo Entry Probe had a radiation counter that measured the high energy radiation that penetrated the heatshield and probe structure. I *think* they also used the ?coil? antenna for the lightning RF detector as a limited capability magnetometer, but I may be wrong.
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Guest_PhilCo126_*
post Dec 12 2005, 11:13 AM
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I remember BIS had a cover for the event on their monthly magazine Spaceflight:
http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/Graphics/Sp...ght/L-Nov03.jpg

rolleyes.gif
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_*
post Dec 12 2005, 09:34 PM
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" I *think* they also used the ?coil? antenna for the lightning RF detector as a limited capability magnetometer, but I may be wrong."

I heard that too, but I've never seen any results.
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deglr6328
post Dec 12 2005, 10:12 PM
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QUOTE (PhilCo126 @ Dec 12 2005, 11:13 AM)
I remember BIS had a cover for the event on their monthly magazine Spaceflight:
http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/Graphics/Sp...ght/L-Nov03.jpg

rolleyes.gif
*


Why a rolleyes.gif ?
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