Jupiter (Planet) -- Photographs from space; Jupiter probes; Voyager Project
Additional studies of the atmosphere, similar to those of Voyager, can
be carried out from the Galileo Orbiter. Television pictures,
ultraviolet and infrared spectra, and measurements of the polarization
of reflected light will all be obtained with the same scan platform
instruments that are used to study the surfaces of the satellites.
A full battery of fields and particles instruments is planned for the
Galileo Orbiter. Many of these are direct descendants of Voyager
instruments. In general, their capabilities have been improved,
particularly their ability to determine the composition of charged
particles. There is a steady progression from Pioneer to Voyager to
Galileo: The early measurements were concentrated on particle energies,
but more sophisticated instruments yield the composition of the ions and
the details of their motion.
Many of the advances expected from Galileo in magnetospheric studies
result from the Orbiter’s ability to explore many parts of the
environment of Jupiter. The Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft made single
cuts through the magnetosphere, and often it was difficult to
distinguish temporal from spatial effects. Galileo will repeatedly swing
around Jupiter, sampling conditions at many distances from the planet
over a time span of two years or more. In addition, it is planned to
adjust the orbit of Galileo to swing out into the magnetotail, the
turbulent region of the magnetosphere that stretches “downwind” from
Jupiter for hundreds of Jupiter radii. No flybys can reach the
magnetotail; an orbiting spacecraft is required.
The Galilean satellites naturally will be a primary focus of Galileo
science, particularly after Voyager. It is planned to have as many as a
dozen individual encounters, most of them at much closer range than the
Voyager flybys. To take advantage of these opportunities, the Galileo
scan platform will carry two new remote sensing systems.
[Illustration: The Orbiter section of the Galileo spacecraft will
carry both remote sensing and direct measuring instruments for the
study of Jupiter, its satellites, and its magnetosphere. Several
remote sensing instruments—an imagery system, a near infrared
mapping spectrometer, an ultraviolet spectrometer, and a
photopolarimeter/radiometer—will be mounted on a scan platform. The
particles and fields instruments will be on a spinning section of
the spacecraft. The Orbiter is expected to operate for at least two
years around Jupiter, providing one close flyby of Io and several
each of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. [P-20772]]
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