World Report: December 8, 1995 Vol.1 No.10
- This Issue:
- Table of Contents
- Cover Story
- Cover Story - Spanish Version
- Mini-Lesson
- Comprehension Quiz
- Teacher's Guide and Worksheets
Target: Jupiter
It has traveled more than 2 billion miles, swooping around Venus and Earth to pick up speed. This week, after a six-year journey, the Galileo (Ga-lih-lay-oh) spacecraft reaches its destination: the giant planet Jupiter.
The craft will circle Jupiter and pass close to four of its 16 moons, taking pictures and measuring gases. It will send the results back to Earth by radio. Scientists can hardly wait!
The most exciting moment of the mission will occur on Thursday, December 7. That's when a robot probe, released by Galileo in July, plunges through Jupiter's atmosphere. It will enter at more than 100,000 miles per hour--"the fastest a human-made object has ever traveled anywhere," says Galileo astronomer Jo Eliza Pitesky of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The probe's instruments will sniff Jupiter's gases, measure temperatures and pressures and take pictures of the planet's spectacular yellow and red gas clouds and lightning. "We're going to find out what Jupiter is made of," says Pitesky.
The probe will have to work fast. After 75 minutes, the heat and high pressure of Jupiter will make it melt. On Earth, nasa scientists will be on the edge of their seats waiting for a signal from space that should come at 3:04 p.m. Thursday. The signal will mean the probe has done its job!
