Overview:

The Galileo mission is a joint effort of NASA and ESA to explore the Jovian system by in-situ measurements. Galileo is the first man-made spacecraft that is in orbit around an outer planet in our solar system. All the other 5 spacecraft (Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and Ulysses) only flew by the planet and encountered the Jovian magnetosphere only for a few days. Galileo, instead, went into orbit around the largest planet in our solar system in December 1995 and is returning data since then.

Objectives:

• High resolution imaging of the Galilean satellites

• Surface/atmospheric composition and thermal mapping

• Atmospheric particles, thermal/reflected radiation

• Atmospheric gases, aerosols etc.

• Strengths and fluctuations of magnetic fields

• Global distributions of energetic electrons and ions in the Jovian magnetosphere

• Plasma composition and energy distribution of ions

• Electromagnetic wavers and waver particle interactions

• Mass, velocity, char of sub-micrometer particles

• Heavy ion charged particles

• Masses and internal structures of the moons

• Satellite radii and atmospheric structure

Experiments:

• DDS Dust Detector Subsystem

• EPD Energetic Particles Detector

• EUV Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer

• HIC Heavy Ion Counter

• MAG Magnetometer

• NIMS Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer

• PLS Plasma Subsystem

• PPR Photopolarimeter-Radiometer

• PWS Plasma Wave Subsystem

• Radio Science

• SSI Solid-State Imaging

• UVS Ultraviolet Spectrometer