How have the discoveries of the spacecraft Galileo Impact our Understanding of our solar

system?

Julyan F. S. Grant
April 1, 2009
Wrightstown Elementary School
Ms. Mclaughlin
How have the discoveries of the spacecraft Galileo Impact our Understanding of our solar
system?

In the year of 1989 the spacecraft Galileo blasted off into space on the shuttle

Atlantis to discover more information about Jupiter and its moons. The spacecraft Galileo

was named after a famous astronomer named Galileo who discover the Galilean moons.

NASA’s goal was to use planets Venus and Earth to gain speed so that the space probe

could gain information about our solar system 4 billion years ago. On Galileo’s journey,

NASA was able to find information about asteroids and more details about the Galilean

moons of Jupiter. Last NASA found interesting facts on Jupiter itself and how Jupiter

plays an important role in our Solar system.

The first thing Galileo did was whip around Venus and Earth till it was flying full

speed out to Jupiter. Along its way the spacecraft was able to get some high-quality

pictures of asteroids like Ida and Gaspra, but able to reach Jupiter in December 1995. At

this point the spacecraft discovered the 2 Galilean moons which where Io, and Europa.

The closest moon to Jupiter was Io which is known as the most unfriendly moon because

it is made up of sulfur, gas, and lava. This moon has 150 active volcanoes that spew hot

lava that is hotter than the lava on planet Earth. Io is the most active volcanic body of

mass in the solar system. Io has taught man kind how planets can be extremely hot even

though they are not close to the sun. The Next moon in line that the spacecraft Galileo

also studied was the moon Europa. Europa is an interesting moon that is very different

from its other siblings by because the moon is covered in moving plates of ice. Europa

has a salty ocean under its surface that contains more water than Earth. Since there are

cracks between the solid plates of ice, Europa is able to have a small atmosphere that has
oxygen. Scientists have now learned that there are other places outside our planet that

have more water than us. Both moons have very distinctive characteristics.

The last two Galilean moons are Ganymede, and Callisto, which have similar

traits. Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system and is bigger than the planets

Mercury, and Pluto. The Galileo spacecraft has discovered that Ganymede also has

oceans under its surface that are kind of like Europa, but the difference is that its surface

is made up of meteorite craters. Another thing is that makes Ganymede special is that it

has its own magnetism. The last Galilean moon that the Galileo spacecraft studied was

Callisto. Callisto is the most mysteries moon discovered and houses many clues about the

past. This moon unlike others is the oldest moon which was formed four-billion years

ago. The most mysteries part about this moon is that there is a huge black blanket with

many craters on the surface, also there might be an ocean deep in the middle of it that

would not affect its surface. The weird part about this moon is that its core hast to be

made up of water, but still has a magnetic field. Scientist says that the electrical current

from Jupiter could create a magnetic field from the ocean in Callisto. Both moons have

things in common but both have interesting characteristics.

After the spacecraft Galileo learnt about the moons, it was able to study

interesting facts of Jupiter by orbiting many times. In 2003 Galileo sent a probe into

Jupiter to get information about the atmosphere, but the probe was obliterated in the

atmosphere. The probes job was to travel 124 miles into Jupiter to study, temperature,

pressure, chemicals, cloud characteristics, sunlight, and lightning. The Galileo spacecraft

had crash into Jupiter’s atmosphere to gain information since the probe failed. One

amazing thing that Galileo discovered is that Jupiter’s Gasses are stronger than gasses of
our sun. Another astonishing thing that we have discovered is that Jupiter is like its own

solar system that controls its own planets. There is an intense radiation belt on top of its

spinning clouds that sends out so much electricity, that our planet gets billions of watts

every day. Last is that the Galileo spacecraft found that Jupiter’s magnetic force is so

strong that the Asteroid belt is controlled by Jupiter. That means without Jupiter, our

planet would be pelted with asteroids every day and also our orbit around the sun would

be off, and that would create catastrophic problems. Now scientists have a better

understanding on how our solar system works then they did before.

The Spacecraft Galileo has helped us learn about our own solar system by the fact

that it has discovered water on other places besides Earth. Also that this tiny probe has

taught us that Jupiter monitor’s every thing in our solar system and that now we have

figured out how perfect our planet is.