Galileo successfully completes Callisto flyby
Posted: Fri, May 25, 2001, 11:07 PM ET (0307 GMT)
The Galileo spacecraft flew by Jupiter's moon Callisto early Friday, its camera apparently working after problems earlier in the week. Galileo passed 138 km from the surface of the outermost large moon of Jupiter, slightly higher than the planned closest approach of 138 km but still good enough to put the spacecraft on course for a flyby of the innermost large moon Io in August. Project officials said Galileo's camera, which had been malfunctioning earlier in the week, appeared to work well once ground controllers commanded it off and back on Thursday. Scientists hoped to get high-resolution images of the cratered surface of Callisto in order to understand the history of comet and asteroid impacts recorded in the moon's icy surface. Those images and other data collected by Galileo will be transmitted to Earth over the next two months.
The Galileo spacecraft flew by Jupiter's moon Callisto early Friday, its camera apparently working after problems earlier in the week. Galileo passed 138 km from the surface of the outermost large moon of Jupiter, slightly higher than the planned closest approach of 138 km but still good enough to put the spacecraft on course for a flyby of the innermost large moon Io in August. Project officials said Galileo's camera, which had been malfunctioning earlier in the week, appeared to work well once ground controllers commanded it off and back on Thursday. Scientists hoped to get high-resolution images of the cratered surface of Callisto in order to understand the history of comet and asteroid impacts recorded in the moon's icy surface. Those images and other data collected by Galileo will be transmitted to Earth over the next two months.
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