Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A
~~ ~~ ~ ~~~~
16. Abstract
Gal i leo
Jupiter
19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price
Unclassified Unclassified
N-305 For sale by the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22161
4
- NASA SP-479
GALILEO:
EXPLORATlON OF JUPITER'S SYSTEM
(NASA SP ; 479)
1. Galileo Project. I. Yeates, C. M. 11. Galileo
Project. 111. Series.
QB661.G35 1985 523.4'5 84-16638
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402
Acknowledgments
This book is the result of a great deal of work by many people connected
with Project Galileo. We thank all our colleagues on the various Galileo
science teams for providing information in their disciplines and for
numerous suggestions and reviews of several versions of the manuscript.
We would like to acknowledge the leadership provided by John Casani,
Galileo Project Manager, without whose constant encouragement this book
would never have been completed.
V
Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V
.
Chapter 1 The Mission of Galileo ................................. 1
History ..................................................... 2
Getting There ............................................... 2
Scientific Objectives .......................................... 5
Investigations of Opportunity ................................. 12
Mission Design and the Orbital Tour ............................ 14
The Spacecraft and Instruments ................................ 14
.
Chapter 2 Atmospheres .......................................... 17
Composition ................................................ 17
Meteorology ................................................ 22
Structure and Clouds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Satellite Atmospheres ........................................ 29
.
Chapter 3 Satellites. Rings. and Dust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Formational History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Geologic Evolution and Current State ........................... 33
Solid-Body Science Studies .................................... 43
Particles and Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Radio Science Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
.
Chapter 4 The Magnetosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
.
Chapter 5 Mission Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Mission Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Probe Mission ............................................... 82
Satellite Tour Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
.
Appendix A Management and Science Teams ....................... 159
.
Appendix B Acronyms and Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
.
Appendix C Characteristics of Jupiter and the Jovian System . . . . . . . . . . 173
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
...
VI11
ORIGINAL PAGE IS
OF POOR QUALITY
The outer solar system begins somewhere in ticles surrounding the planet. Long-standing prob-
the asteroid belt, beyond Mars. The first major lems were resolved or seen in a new light, many
outpost of this vast realm is Jupiter, the giant discoveries were made, and totally new questions
planet. Orbiting at a mean distance of 778 million were raised as the jovian system proved to be even
km from the Sun, Jupiter is the largest of the Sun’s more complex and its members more interrelated
family of planetary companions, having a volume than we had previously suspected. Intriguing new
approximately 1000 times that of Earth. Jupiter is worlds of enormous complexity were viewed close-
not merely a single large planet, however; it is the ly for the first time - volcanically active Io, heavily
central object and master of a complex system in- cratered Callisto, strangely marked Ganymede,
volving four large moons, at least twelve smaller and cracked Europa. Through the eyes of Voyager,
satellites, a ring system, and a powerful magnetic astronomers saw strange planetary surfaces unlike
field that influences a n immense region of space anything previously envisioned, except perhaps in
filled with charged particles of all varieties. It is the speculative fiction. Complicated electromagnetic
archetype of the “miniature solar systems” com- phenomena were encountered in the vast natural
mon to the outer parts of our planetary laboratory of plasmas and interacting forces that
system - Saturn and Uranus have comparable surrounds the giant planet and encompasses many
systems, while Neptune and Pluto possess at least of its large satellites. The jovian system revealed by
satellites. these preliminary explorations suggested new
Exploration of the outer reaches of our solar dimensions of fundamental studies about planets,
system began when the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, satellites, the interplanetary medium, and the for-
launched in 1972, flew past Jupiter in 1973, fol- mation of systems around stars.
lowed by Pioneer 11 about a year later. The Pio- But the flyby missions of the Voyagers and the
neers’ visits were followed in 1979 by the spectacu- earlier Pioneers could not provide the in-depth
lar reconnaissance missions of the two Voyager long-term measurements needed t o resolve the
spacecraft. These terrestrial emissaries, extensions e f i ~discsverics raised. %‘e
many new q ~ ~ ~ s t itheir
of our Earth-bound senses across more than half a are still a long way from having the answers re-
billion kilometers of space, revealed intriguing quired to understand our origins and to meet a very
details about Jupiter’s variegated clouds, the large basic human need - obtaining a credible explana-
satellites, and the magnetic fields and charged par- tion and description of the causes and effects
1
leading to a solar system and a planet on which life lites, and magnetosphere and ‘detail Galileo’s proj-
could evolve so highly that it could question its ected contributions. Chapters 5 to 7 give a more
own mode of origin. All civilizations have at- technical review of mission design, the spacecraft,
tempted to answer that question, and of all and the science instruments. Table 1 details the
humankind we today have the best opportunities to science payload.
probe this issue. One tool that we will use to press
this inquiry is a product of our highest technology
and advanced scientific capabilities, Project
Hi story
Galileo.
Project Galileo had its genesis during the
Project Galileo is an innovative, challenging mid-l970s, when space scientists and NASA mis-
deep-space mission - the most complex flown by sion planners were considering the next steps in
the National Aeronautics and Space Administra- outer planet exploration. By that time Pioneers 10
tion (NASA) since the Viking program at Mars in and 1 1 had flown past Jupiter, but the Voyager
1976. The Galileo spacecraft (figs. 1 and 2) consists spacecraft had not been launched. Choosing
of a probe vehicle to penetrate deep into the Jupiter as the obvious next target (it is the most
maelstrom of Jupiter’s atmosphere and an orbiter readily accessible of the giant planets), space scien-
vehicle t o traverse the complex magnetosphere of tists and mission planners realized that an ad-
the planet for many months, to observe the planet’s vanced mission should incorporate two vital ele-
changing cloud patterns and atmospheric struc- ments: a probe to descend into the atmosphere and
ture, and to closely scrutinize the major Galilean a relatively long-lived orbiter t o study the planet,
satellites, those planet-sized worlds that have its satellites, and the vast expanse of the jovian
proven t o be so different from the inner planets of magnetosphere. Such a mission was developed by
the solar system. Project Galileo will be our first NASA and approved by Congress in 1977.
chance t o make an in-depth study of the jovian Although originally called Jupiter Orbiter-Probe,
system. This is an important distinction. Early the program was soon renamed Project Galileo to
deep-space probes were considered “Venus mis- honor the Italian astronomer who discovered the
sions” or “Mars missions,” but Galileo is not really four large satellites of Jupiter that now bear his
planet specific - it is a comprehensive survey of the name.
entire jovian system.
Galileo was designed to be the first American
Overall project management for Galileo planetary mission to ride the space shuttle, a deci-
resides with the California Institute o f sion that subsequently proved troublesome. When
Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in development and schedule problems plagued the
Pasadena, California, which is building the or- shuttle and upper-stage rocket during 1979-1982,
biter. Ames Research Center in Mountain View, the Galileo Project underwent a number of
California, has responsibility for the probe, to be frustrating and costly delays in launch date,
supplied by the Hughes Aircraft Company and the originally slated for January 1982. The configura-
General Electric Company. In addition to the tion evolution caused by these delays is shown in
many components built by aerospace firms across figure 3. Now, with the shuttle operational and the
the United States, the Federal Republic of Ger- development of a modified, more powerful Cen-
many is constructing the orbiter’s main propulsion taur upper-stage rocket underway, Galileo is
system, two complete scientific instruments, and scheduled for launch in May 1986.
major elements of several others. These are being
supplied to NASA free of charge under a coop-
erative agreement between the United States and Getting There
the Federal Republic of Germany.
This book details the scientific questions to be For launch, the Galileo spacecraft, orbiter
addressed by the Galileo mission and discusses how plus probe, will be attached to the top of a
the Galileo spacecraft, mission design, and scien- modified Centaur rocket, the same basic hydrogen-
tific experiments will work together to unravel the fueled upper stage that was used for the Surveyor,
secrets of the jovian system. The first four chapters Viking, Pioneer, and Voyager launches. This time,
explore our knowledge of the atmospheres, satel- however, instead of being mounted in turn on a
2
ORIGINAL PAGE E
Figure 1. The Galileo spacecraft -orbiter
probe-on the way to the giant planet
and
Jupiter and an in-depth exploration of the
I
OF POOR QUALITY complex jovian planetary system.
larger, first-stage booster rocket, the entire after deployment, as the Centaur enters the proper
spacecraft-Centaur combination will be loaded in- “window” in space and time for injection into an
to the shuttle’s cargo bay for its trip into Earth or- interplanetary Jupiter transfer trajectory, the
bit. Figure 4 shows the launch sequence. After rocket’s computers will command the engines to ig-
achieving orbit, the astronauts will open the cargo nite and Galileo will be on its way toward the giant
bay doors and deploy the rocket and its precious planet.
payload (fig. 5). At this stage Galileo will resemble After successful injection on its path toward
a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, with all its Jupiter, the Galileo spacecraft will still have a series
appendages, booms, and antennas still folded up to of complex steps to perform t o transform itself in-
fit within the dimensions of the cargo bay. Once t o a functioning planetary robot. Still attached t o
the deployment is accomplished, the shuttle will the now spent Centaur, the spacecraft will be spun
back away t o a safe distance, about four nautical up slowly t o about 0.1 rpm for stabilization, and
miles, and the Centaur’s computer will take over the interplanetary “butterfly” will begin t o spread
the launch sequence. Approximately 45 minutes its wings as its main antenna-a fine gold-plated
3
Orbiter
Mass = 1138 k g (includes 103 kg science payload)
Normal spin rate = 3 1 5 rpm Magnetometer boom = 1 0 9 m
Retropropulslon module 400 N thrust, 932-kg fuel
High gain antenna 4 8-m diameter, maximum data rate = 1 3 4 kilobitsis
Electric power 570 W (at launch), 486 W (after 6 years)
Spinning section
High-gain antenna
(Earth communications
and radio science)
Ultraviolet spectrometer
Probe
Mass = 335 kg (includes 2 13-kg deceleration module)
Descent module 118 kg (includes 28-kg science payload)
Probe diameter = 125 c m Probe height = 86 c m
Heat shield. carbon-phenolic nose, thickness = 1 0 147 m m
Data rate = 128 bitsis (Li SO, battery lifetime = 55-60 min)
mesh supported by an umbrella-like structure - un- separated from the orbiter and will head straight
folds and the three main booms snap into place. for the planet, while the orbiter will back off to fly
The spacecraft will then be spun up to 3 rpm. The in formation as both spacecraft drop into the jo-
final step in freeing the spacecraft from Earth will vian gravity well.
occur when the metal band attaching the spacecraft Finally, some time in late 1988, the pair will
to the spent rocket is fractured by an explosive reach their destination and begin a flurry of intense
ring. From that point, Galileo will be an independ- activities (fig. 8). As the orbiter passes within 1000
ent entity, and the long process of checking out its km of the volcanic moon Io, the probe will plunge
various systems and functions and preparing for toward the swirling cloud tops girdling Jupiter’s
arrival at Jupiter will begin. equator. A few hours later the orbiter will reach a
Galileo will arrive in the vicinity of Jupiter point 230 000 km from the planet and begin relay-
after an interplanetary transit of a little more than ing to Earth precious data being radioed by the
two years (fig. 6). Figure 7 presents a schedule of probe as it descends by parachute into the at-
major mission events. One hundred and fifty days mosphere. About an hour after the probe com-
before its arrival at Jupiter, the probe will be pletes its transmission, the orbiter’s retrorocket will
4
burn for about 46 minutes. This firing, in combina- of the jovian system (appendix C and fig. 9).
tion with the gravitational effect of the close Io Subsequent chapters detail our current knowledge
flyby, will ease the orbiter into a long, looping concerning the three major components of the
jovian orbit with a period of 200 days. system: the planet, the major satellites, and the
As the spacecraft recedes from Jupiter along magnetosphere. These chapters also outline some
this path, scientists will have already begun to of the main questions in these areas and the ad-
analyze the hour-long spurt of data gathered by the vances that we hope to make with the many Galileo
probe, and our in-depth exploration of the jovian investigations.
system will be truly underway. In the next 20 Most of Galileo’s science goals are underlaid
months, the orbiter will orbit Jupiter eleven times, by our view of Jupiter as a system that holds clues
making a close flyby of a Galilean satellite in each to conditions in the early solar system at the time of
orbit, using the gravity of the satellites to adjust its planet formation 4.6 billion years ago, the proc-
flight path, and studying the planet and its rings, esses that initially modified and shaped the newly
satellites, and magnetosphere. formed planetary bodies, including Earth, and the
processes that are still active today, ranging from
Scientific Objectives volcanic activity on Io to astrophysical plasma
processes in the vast magnetosphere. Also, al-
The entire design of the Galileo mission is dic- though most investigations can be classified as re-
tated by the many-faceted and interrelated nature lating to atmospheric, satellite, or magnetospheric
A tmosphere
Determine the chemical composition
Determine the structure to a depth of at least 10 bars
Determine the nature of the cloud particles and location and structure of
cloud layers
Determine the radiative heat balance
Investigate the circulation and dynamics
Investigate the upper atmosphere and ionosphere
Satellites
Characterize the morphology, geology, and physical state of the sur-
faces
Investigate the surface minerology and surface distribution of minerals
Determine the gravitational and magnetic fields and dynamic properties
Study the atmospheres, ionospheres, and extended gas clouds
Study the magnetospheric interactions of the satellites
Magnetosphere
Characterize the energy spectra, composition, and angular distribu-
tion of energetic particles throughout the magnetosphere to 150 R,
Characterize the vector magnetic fields throughout the magnetosphere
to 150 R,
e Ph-......+-..:-- + L e - 1 --_- ---- ---_---_*:-.-
Luai acLci I L c iiic p a a i l l a ciici gy S ~ C L L Ia, wiiipuAiiuii, aiid aiiguiar
----I_
~ A--
5
Table 1. Galileo's Scientific Payload
6
1984 dual launch 1985 1986
1982 r
External tank
separation
T + 8 min
Separate
Solid rocket booster
spacecraft
T + 8hr
11 min
science, it should be recognized that these areas are plicated than a mere similarity in the appearance of
frequently very closely related, either directly by the orbits of the planets and satellites. We now
the processes that link them or indirectly through know that early Jupiter was in many ways Sun-like
inferences about one or more of them drawn from or star-like. Even now, it is composed almost en-
study of another. tirely of hydrogen and helium under extreme
temperatures and pressures. Although it was too
Origins small to achieve the critical values of temperature
and pressure necessary t o ignite the fusion proc-
At the heart of our hopes to learn more about esses that power the stars, Jupiter apparently was
the early solar system from study of the jovian quite hot and luminous during a brief period in its
system are the similarities and the differences be- early history and still emits about twice as much
tween this system and the solar system as a whole. energy as it receives from the Sun, as residual heat
The obvious analogy between the planets orbiting energy still flows out of the planet’s deep interior.
the Sun and the large moons circling Jupiter was in (This was true of Saturn only t o a token extent.)
fact one of the most important conceptual aspects Since the satellites are believed to have formed
of the discovery of the moons by Galileo in 1610, some time during this period of high luminosity,
leading to acceptance of the Copernican Sun- their strikingly different characteristics have been
centered theory. However, our modern discoveries explained as a function of their proximity to
and understanding of the system suggest that this Jupiter, just as the inner planets are affected by
analogy is both more profound and more com- their positions near the early Sun.
8
-"
e--
The Satellites
13
for calibration data and in part from the develop- tional field. Fortunately, mission designers have
ment of an agreement with the Federal Republic of found a way to fly a very demanding, complicated
Germany that provides for periodic tracking of mission using little fuel. They will manage this trick
Galileo using a German tracking station and the by employing the gravity-assist technique that suc-
provision of the data records to all interested ex- cessfully redirected the Voyagers and other
perimenters. spacecraft as they swung by various planets along
their routes.
Asteroid or Comet Encounters In the case of Galileo, a celestial 11- or
12-cushion billiard shot will be set up, using the
Since the Galileo spacecraft will cross the gravity of the massive Galilean moons to modify
asteroid belt en route to Jupiter, it is not the orbiter’s course during each pass. This
unreasonable to expect that a close flyby of one or simultaneously sends the craft on toward the next
more of the asteroids might be possible. A pre- encounter and provides extremely close approaches
liminary search for such possibilities has been car- to the satellites for scientific measurements. As a
ried out using computer catalogs of main-belt result, the entire “satellite tour” can be flown so
asteroids, comets, and Earth-crossing asteroids, that rockets need supply only about 100 m/s of
about 4000 possible targets in all. From this initial velocity change-60 times less than what would be
search, several promising targets have been iden- needed without the satellites’ help!
tified, including Amphitrite, an S-class asteroid. Chapter 5 provides an in-depth look at how
This asteroid could in principle be approached very this complex mission is designed and how it
closely by Galileo if the spacecraft’s trajectory were responds to the numerous requirements placed on
altered somewhat from the optimum path to it by the science objectives.
Jupiter. No decision has been made about whether
to make an attempt; the effects of the extra fuel ex- The Spacecraft and Instruments
penditure on other Galileo science objectives and
the cost and risk to the mission of performing such To accomplish the many objectives of
a flyby have still t o be evaluated in detail. Mean- Galileo’s jovian exploration, some new concepts in
while, further opportunities are being sought, and spacecraft design and instrumentation are re-
Galileo may well have a n opportunity t o take a quired. Based on earlier Pioneer, Voyager, and
close look at an asteroid in late 1986 or early 1987. Mariner systems, Galileo also takes advantage of
the latest microcomputer electronics, improved
Mission Design and the Orbital Tour solid-state imaging systems for both the visual and
infrared portions of the spectrum, and very-high-
While the probe’s success is keyed to its ability speed entry technology for the probe.
t o penetrate the jovian atmosphere, the orbiter’s For the orbiter, one important innovation is
success depends on its unique trajectory, which its “dual spin” design, with the antenna and certain
provides for unprecedented new measurements. instrument booms rotating about three times per
Once captured by Jupiter’s gravity, the orbiter minute while another instrument platform and the
would repeat its initial 200-day orbit if nothing spacecraft’s aft portion remain fixed in inertial
were done; this would allow several Voyager-like space. This means that the orbiter can easily ac-
passes through the system before the spacecraft commodate both magnetospheric experiments
“died” from radiation effects or actually dropped (which perform best when rapidly swept through
at its low point into the atmosphere due to gravita- large angles) and telescopic remote sensing ex-
tional perturbations of the Sun. For Galileo to be periments (which require very accurate and stable
utilized more effectively during its limited lifetime, pointing). Also, instead of utilizing a central com-
the orbital period must be shortened and the puter as did previous planetary spacecraft, Galileo
spacecraft targeted to make very close flybys of the uses dozens of microcomputers scattered among its
Galilean satellites. subsystems and experiments to provide un-
If this had t o be accomplished by rocket pro- precedented operational flexibility.
pulsion, the mission would be impossible- too On its spinning portion, the orbiter has in-
much fuel (and weight) would be required t o do the struments t o measure Jupiter’s magnetic field, the
necessary maneuvers in Jupiter’s strong gravita- charged particles and plasmas trapped in the
14
magnetosphere, and the electromagnetic and elec- on the 1977 Pioneer Venus mission, incorporating
trostatic waves propagating through this environ- experiments to measure temperature and pressure
ment. One new instrument will examine the fre- along the descent path, locate major cloud decks,
quency and paths of micrometeoroids near Jupiter. and analyze the chemistry of atmospheric gases. In
Investigators will use the spacecraft’s radio system addition, the probe will attempt to detect and study
to probe Jupiter’s atmosphere and to search for at- jovian lightning both by looking for optical flashes
mospheres on the satellites. In general, these newer and by listening for the radio “static” they
instruments have greater sensitivity, energy range, generate. The latter detector will also measure
and angular resolution than their Voyager counter- high-energy electrons close to Jupiter just prior to
parts. atmospheric entry.
The nonspinning portion carries four in- Slowing the probe as it “hits” the atmosphere
struments on a pointable mounting boom (the scan presents a crucial engineering challenge. Unlike the
platform) that are all new in one way or another. A Pioneers’ relatively low entry speed at Venus (12
photopolarimeter-radiometer will measure the km/s), the Galileo probe will be greatly accelerated
polarization of light scattered from Jupiter’s clouds by Jupiter’s immense gravitational pull and will
and the satellites’ surfaces, and its infrared chan- strike the atmosphere at about 50 km/s-more
nels will sound the atmosphere and measure than 160 000 km/hr! Its deceleration to about
satellite temperatures. An ultraviolet spectrometer Mach 1 -the speed of sound-should take just a
will operate from wavelengths of 1150 to 4300 few minutes and will cause a tremendous buildup
angstroms (from just below the radiation from of heat in the probe’s protective covering. These
neutral hydrogen in the Lyman-alpha band to the entry conditions, far more severe than those faced
blue end of the visible spectrum). The near- by returning Apollo astronauts, cannot be
infrared mapping spectrometer is a newly simulated in conventional wind tunnels. New
developed instrument designed to map the satellites facilities at NASA’s Ames Research Center were re-
in 200 spectral channels and discern any composi- quired t o test heat shield materials, which make u p
tional variation across their surfaces. It will also approximately half the overall weight of the probe.
study cloud structure and gas composition in the On the brighter side, once it survives its fiery
jovian atmosphere. entry, the probe will operate in a more benign en-
The most familiar scan-platform instru- vironment than did its Pioneer predecessors. It will
ment-a TV camera-is also included. Its optical not have to cope with corrosive sulfuric acid clouds
portion (actually a telescope with a focal length of or the furnace-like temperatures at Venus’ surface.
1500 mm) is a Voyager spare, but the sensor elec- Jupiter’s atmosphere is primarily hydrogen and
tronics are entirely new. Instead of using a conven- helium, of little consequence to the spacecraft or its
tional TV vidicon tube, Galileo’s camera has a parachute, and for most of the descent the probe
charge-coupled device at its focal plane. The will be immersed in gases at or below room
charge-coupled device is a 1 cm2 silicon “chip” con- temperature. Eventually, however, it will sink
taining 640 000 individual diode sensors in an 800 below the visible clouds, where rising pressure and
by 800 array. It is over 100 times more sensitive temperature will take their toll.
than Voyager’s vidicons and can “see” out t o about More detailed information about the space-
9000 angstroms in the near infrared. craft design is found in chapter 6; instruments are
Galileo’s probe is similar in concept to those discussed individually in chapter 7.
15
ORlGlNtlL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
chapter 2 ATMOSPHERES
Jupiter is the prototype of the four “jovian composition is known, most of the other quantities
planets,” grouped with Saturn, Uranus, and Nep- can be derived from the temperature profile, along
tune. Although each is unique, as a group they dif- with the equation of state, represented in many
fer sharply from the terrestrial planets in that they cases by the ideal gas law (the relationships among
are much larger but have much smaller mean den- temperature, pressure, and volume obeyed by an
sities. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, and Mars idealized gas).
can all be regarded as composed of a varying mix- The following sections correspond to the three
ture of rock and iron. Similar material probably is areas discussed above: composition, meteorology,
buried in the cores of the jovian planets, but it is and structure. A fourth section discusses satellite
surrounded by huge envelopes of gas, principally atmospheres. In each area the present state of
hydrogen and helium. Small proportions of the knowledge is summarized; the major open ques-
hydrides of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen [methane tions are then discussed, along with Galileo’s ex-
(CH4), ammonia (NH3), and water (H20)] are also pected contributions to their solutions.
present. All three are observed in Earth-based spec-
tra of Jupiter, but the less volatile ones ( H 2 0 and
“3) disappear from view in the other, colder Composition
planets, undoubtedly because they condense to
form clouds at levels too deep t o be seen. Early measurements of the ratios of helium
Some of these clouds are readily visible from (He), carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) to hydrogen
Earth and have been studied in detail by the (H) at Jupiter gave values close to those for the Sun
Voyagers (fig. 10). A wide range of meteorologic and, along with the obvious rarity of rock and iron
phenomena has been studied from Earth and other relative to gas, encouraged the view that the com-
spacecraft and will be studied further by Galileo. positions of Jupiter and the Sun are indeed iden-
Figure 11 summarizes current ideas about the tical. The Voyager results for He are still in agree-
clouds and deeper !eve!s. ment with this concept: but current analyses of
The term “structure” for an atmosphere refers Jupiter’s methane spectrum show an overabun-
to a description of pressure, density, and dance of carbon compared t o solar values by a fac-
temperature as functions of height. Cloud density tor of 2 to 3. Similar factors are derived from gravi-
and composition are sometimes included. Once the ty data for the rocky core. Water, o n the other
17
19
hand, is apparently underabundant by more than a duced from methane by the action of solar
factor of 100. This molecule can be seen, however, ultraviolet light. Lightning has also been suggested
in only a few special cloud-free regions which un- from time to time as a n energy source for similar
doubtedly contain strong downdrafts and which processes, but most scientists doubt that the
would therefore be expected to have dried out. The strength of this source is at all competitive with
average HzOabundance is thus still very uncertain. direct sunlight.
The NH3 abundance in the visible atmosphere is A persistent mystery is the nature of the agent
also greatly affected by cloud formation, and that colors the clouds. The yellow color may be due
although ammonia can be detected at radio fre- to phosphorus, sulfur compounds, or some
quencies at deeper levels, the mixing ratio remains unspecified organic compounds.
uncertain. Generally speaking, the methods of remote
Theoretical studies of cloud formation in an sensing have reached their limits in the area of
atmosphere of solar composition predict three composition. Quantitative spectroscopy is frus-
main cloud layers above the pressure range of 10 t o trated by the need to allow for clouds whose struc-
20 atmospheres (figs. 11 and 12). Near 0.6 at- ture and properties are poorly known and inhomo-
mosphere there should be a “cirrus” of ammonia geneous. Little information can be obtained below
crystals. At about 6 atmospheres, a dense cloud of the cloud level. Many constituents of great interest,
water and ice is predicted, and in between these especially N2 and the noble gases, cannot be
layers there may be a cloud of ammonium detected at all. These considerations were crucial
hydrosulfide (NH4HS). when the Galileo mission was formulated with a n
Important clues to the origin of a planet come entry probe as an integral part of the concept. The
from isotopic ratios, which are only very slightly principal analytic instrument on the probe is a mass
affected by the planet’s subsequent chemical evolu- spectrometer. Because of the particular cosmologic
tion. Two such ratios have been measured for importance of helium, there is another instrument,
Jupiter: carbon 13 to carbon 12, which is the same
as on Earth, and deuterium (heavy hydrogen) t o
hydrogen, which requires a rather uncertain correc-
tion in the mathematical analysis but is found t o be
only one-fifth the terrestrial value. Low values are
also seen in other parts of the galaxy and may
represent the initial ratio for the solar system. No-
ble (inert) gases are of even greater interest, but
their isotopic ratios cannot be measured remotely
from space.
A number of molecules, of which ethane
(CzHs) is typical, are detected in the infrared.
There is also a pervasive high-altitude aerosol, or ar
smog, which darkens the whole planet in the U
3
.-I
ultraviolet. Such substances are expected to be pro- -
I
a NH3 cloud
20
the helium abundance detector, devoted to this one and 3. The minimum detectable mixing ratio, or
measurement. Descriptions of both instruments fraction of gas present, is about 10-8, but may be
may be found in chapter 7. considerably greater at some masses because of
The neutral mass spectrometer measures residual gas in the instrument or other ions of the
neutral gas species by ionizing them in an electron same mass. The third column in the tables indicates
beam and selecting particular ion masses by a some of these potential problems and likely
carefully tailored combination of fixed and remedies. For example, ammonia is very scarce at
oscillating electrical fields. The necessary high high altitudes, so molecules with which it interferes
vacuum is produced by pumps within the instru- are best measured there. The instrument measures
ment. The gas is introduced through a very small three kinds of samples: the unprocessed at-
aperture or "leak" after passing through a complex, mosphere, a sample with all but noble gases re-
miniaturized plumbing and valving system. An ap- moved, and a sample of complex molecules from
proximation of the expected composition, express- which the rest of the gas has been removed. Such
ed for solar abundances, is presented in tables 2 molecules may therefore be measured even if their
original mixing ratio was well below 10-8. In the
noble gas sample, the proportions should be:
Table 2. Gross Atmospheric Composition helium, 1.0; neon, 1.7 x 10-3;argon, 6.3 x
krypton, 2 x 10-8; xenon, 3 to 20 x Excellent
Dominant Isotope isotopic ratios should be obtained for the three
Interference/ lightest gases and at least abundances for krypton
Gas Mixing Ratio Solutiona and xenon.
Molecular 0.89
hydrogen
Helium 0.11
Water 1.47 x 10-3 Table 3. Less Abundant Species ~~
, .
’:*.
% *
positively and others to become charged negative- large-scale atmospheric dynamics at the levels
ly. Most lightning discharges in Earth’s atmosphere where the flashes occur. Questions now concern
occur within a cloud cell and neutralize tens of the frequency and global distribution of the light-
coulombs of charge. Cloud-to-ground lightning ning flashes and the sizes of individual storms and
transfers negative charge from the bottom of the their locations. More details will be furnished by
C!C”C! tC! Earth’s surfare. the lightning and radio emission detector on the
A similar dynamic regime may exist on Jupiter probe. The range of detection by this instrument is
and may be responsible for the lightning detected estimated t o be about 10 000 km from the probe’s
by Voyager (figs. 14 and 15). That lightning does entry point. The data will be obtained during the
occur on Jupiter implies that vertical instabilities entire descent of the probe, below the jovian
occur, and this has important implications for the ionosphere, and inside and below dense cloud
23
ORIGINAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
25
redistributed within the atmospheric layers; strong enough, instabilities that appear as organiz-
Cyclones, anticyclones, fronts, jet streams, convec- ed roll patterns may superficially resemble convec-
tive thunderstorms, and other processes are active tive turbulence. In addition, convective modes are
in Earth’s atmosphere. Some of these modes may most likely to occur in the polar regions, which
also operate on Jupiter, but there may be others of cannot be observed well from Galileo’s equatorial
equal or greater importance. There are fundamen- orbit.
tal questions in fluid dynamics concerning the in- So-called baroclinic instabilities, analogous t o
teractions of these modes, the manner in which those that form cyclones in Earth’s atmosphere and
they are manifested, and the conditions necessary draw energy from large-scale horizontal differences
for their development. in temperature combined with wind shear, are
Convective motions are of particular interest widespread on Jupiter. In regions of large horizon-
because of their role in the cyclonic features. tal variations in wind velocity, these instabilities
However, these studies may be hampered for may become dominant. Attempts t o understand
several reasons. For example, if the vertical shear is Voyager data in terms of pre-Voyager theoretical
i 1 t t i
105-
1 I 1 r n
Inertial motions
Rossby waves
1
I
I
I
-- Radius
of
Jupiter
io4-
Baroclinic
D
- 1I-
rnrn
ern Great Red Spot
White oval
I
I
Observed
eddy-jet
I
Zone-belt
width
O2 - Small-scale /
-
/
convection
Galileo
-- 2
/ . 4- best
resolution
-
10-
-- - Voyager imaging coverage
rn rn Voyager infrared coverage
1 I I I I I I
1o4 1o5 106 1o7 108 109
Time scale ( s )
26
concepts have shown the partial applicability of
some of the early ideas. However, Jupiter's at-
mospheric circulation is still not clearly
understood. Galileo has many questions of
dynamics to address, and we are likely to obtain
the answers only by making the most refined obser-
vations of which Galileo is capable.
The Galileo experiments build substantially on
the science and hardware experience gained from
the Voyager missions. For example, the 1500-mm
i - North Tropical Zone
"Brown barge"
30 O N
28
is therefore obtained, not only on the density of the
Day probe clouds, but also on the properties of the particles
(see the Venus results in fig. 19). The mass spec-
trometer will measure the changing composition as
the vapor molecules begin to appear during
penetration of a layer. If the condensate is abun-
dant enough, the signature of its vaporization heat
70
will appear in the temperature profile. Even if the
condensate is not abundant enough t o be detected
60
by a discrete signature, the temperature at which a
50
cloud appears is highly diagnostic of what is con-
40 densing.
30 The orbiter’s remote sensing instruments (im-
20 aging, near-infrared mapping spectrometer,
10 photopolarimeter, and ultraviolet spectrometer)
0 will be used in support of the probe data. Even
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 more important, the probe results will serve as
Temperature, K “ground truth” or “cloud truth” t o calibrate the
analysis for vertical cloud structure of similar data
Figure 18. Temperature profile measured in the at- from other parts of Jupiter. The near-infrared
mosphere of Venus by the atmospheric mapping spectrometer can also investigate the
structure instrument on the Pioneer composition and vertical structure of clouds and
Venus day probe. Points indicate descent the atmospheric temperature profile. Such work
mode data. The solid line was determined makes use of the broad spectral coverage applied to
from accelerations measured during
high-velocity entry and extends into the small areas of Jupiter.
lower thermosphere. The net flux radiometer on the probe will
measure the difference between the upgoing and
downgoing infrared fluxes. During the first part of
redundant and a cross-check is possible. Such ex- the descent, the probe will be in late-afternoon
periments have demonstrated high precision and sunlight, and the remaining solar input will be
accuracy in the past, sufficient, for example, to measured. At depths greater than a few bars, it is
demonstrate to meteorologists the presence on expected that only the internal heat flux will re-
Venus of layers with subadiabatic lapse rates and main, but it cannot be directly measured because
on Mars of wave structure in the stratosphere. an increasing part of the total is carried by convec-
During much of the tour, the Galileo orbits tion; the net flux radiometer measures only the
are poorly suited for use of the radio occultation radiative part. Several filters are used to select
technique, because the spacecraft will pass very far wavelength channels that give information on the
behind Jupiter and frequently will not be occulted composition, especially the crucial HzO abun-
at all. Even if it is, the accuracy of the results, par- dance. Little energy can be radiated through the
ticularly at the higher pressures, will be degraded clouds in wavelength regions that are opaque due
by the large distance. Attempts will be made, t o HzO absorption, and the energy is forced to
however, to obtain the best structure data possible flow at other wavelengths. Although the precision
from the available occultations. Voyager data in- of such a measurement is low, it should be free of
dicate considerable variability in the lower systematic error and will be a valuable check on the
stratosphere; there is therefore no assurance that results from the mass spectrometer.
the probe measurements of this region will be
representative.
The principal instrument for measuring clouds
on the probe is a nephelometer, a device that sends The four Galilean satellites are all massive
out short flashes of light and measures the returned enough to retain atmospheres, but they are un-
signal at several angles. Considerable information doubtedly very tenuous. Sulfur dioxide (SOZ)was
29
2.4 -
2.0 -
1.6 -
1.2 -
Altitude, krn
detected on Io by Voyager, and the atmosphere of emissions from these thin media, stimulated by
Io probably contains mainly SO2 and its dissocia- solar radiation or electron impacts.
tion products, including 02.There is also a large The information about Io is much more
and energetic plasma torus containing ions of substantial, but a considerable range of interpreta-
sulfur and oxygen, as well as some neutral gas. The tions is consistent with the data. The SO2 seen by
torus might be regarded as an extension of Io’s Voyager could represent an atmosphere but could
ionsphere but can better be treated as part of the equally well have been from a volcanic plume.
magnetosphere (chapter 4). Europa, Ganymede, Ionospheres were detected at both limbs by radio
and Callisto all have water ice exposed on their sur- occultation of Pioneer 10, but the samples may not
faces and must certainly have small quantities of have been representative. Finally, large quantities
water vapor, as well as 02,produced from it. of gas must be in transit to supply the torus. On the
Hydrogen escapes rapidly, and oxygen more slow- night side, most of the SO2 must freeze t o the sur-
ly. The Voyager ultraviolet spectrometer set an up- face; if any significant atmosphere remains, it is
per limit to the density of Ganymede’s atmosphere probably 02.In any case, Io’s atmosphere is prob-
in a stellar occultation; the small quantities of gas ably anything but uniform. Again, the Galileo
allowed by this limit are still consistent with expec- ultraviolet spectrometer may be able to detect
tations from theory. The Galileo ultraviolet spec- airglow emissions that will help t o tie down the at-
trometer is sensitive at longer wavelengths than mosphere density and its day to night variation.
Voyager’s instrument and may be able to detect
30
chqfev3SATELLITES, RINGS, AND DUST
The jovian system is in some ways a smaller satellites, discovered by Voyager, orbit very close
replica of the solar system. It consists of massive t o the outer edge of the ring.
gaseous Jupiter with a retinue of satellites ranging The rest of Jupiter’s satellites are irregular and
from worlds the size of the terrestrial planets, fall into two main groups: an inner cluster that
down through asteriod-sized bodies, to micron- consists of small satellites (in posigrade orbits) that
sized dust and ring particles. Although all multiple circle Jupiter at roughly 11.5 million km and an
satellite systems look like small solar systems, the outer group that orbits Jupiter at roughly twice
analogy is profoundly justified in the case of the that distance. The outer satellites move in intricate
jovian system. Jupiter, in its earliest history, was a retrograde orbits, making one circuit of the planet
“weak star” and created a temperature gradient in in about two years. They are so far from Jupiter
the gas cloud from which its moons formed that that if you could stand on the surface of Amalthea
strongly influenced this composition and later you would need a small telescope to detect them.
evolution. In addition to their importance as part Posigrade orbits are those in which bodies revolve
of a miniature solar system, several of the larger in the same direction as Earth in its orbit, that is,
satellites have undergone extensive individual counterclockwise as viewed looking down on the
geologic evolution like that which has affected the north pole. Retrograde motion is oppositely
terrestrial planets. In one case, that of Io, the in- directed. All the planets of the solar system revolve
tensity of geologic evolution is greater even than about the Sun in a posigrade direction, and most
that which has characterized Earth. also have posigrade rotation. The major exceptions
The satellites of Jupiter fall into several to this rule are Uranus, whose axis is severely tilted,
groups (fig. 20): the large worlds Io, Europa, and Venus, which has retrograde rotation. How-
Ganymede, and Callisto and several groups of ever, there are numerous examples of retrograde
much smaller bodies. The four large regular motion among the various satellites.
satellites are called the Galilean satellites because The Galilean satellites are large enough to ap-
they were first seen by the astronomer Galileo in pear as measurable disks when viewed by telescope
1610. Four small satellites -Adrastea, Metis, from Earth, but the largest Earth-based telescope
Amalthea, and Thebe- orbit Jupiter closer than cannot reveal details on the surfaces of any of
Io, the innermost of the Galilean satellites. Very them. All four satellites are in synchronous rota-
close to Jupiter are the orbiting particles that com- tion, keeping one face turned constantly toward
prise Jupiter’s faint ring system. At least two small Jupiter, as the Moon does to Earth. These satellites
31
IX
(Earth)
1951
----
\ /
32
are locked in resonance in their orbits - two Callisto, the outer two satellites, have densities of
periods of revolution of Io about Jupiter are about 1.8 g/cm3, which suggests that they are two-
almost equal to one of Europa, and two of Europa thirds ice in bulk and only one-third silicate rock.
are almost equal to one of Ganymede. Although Jupiter never put out more than
The Galilean satellites were first imaged from one-hundredth the heat of the present Sun (fig.
spacecraft by the Pioneers, but the low resolution 22), the satellites were profoundly affected by it
did not reveal significantly greater detail than im- because they are much closer to Jupiter than even
ages obtained from Earth. When each of the four the planet Mercury is to the Sun. For example,
satellites was imaged in detail by Voyager when Io first formed it was probably receiving as
spacecraft, however, remarkably varied levels of much energy from Jupiter as Earth currently
geologic activity were discovered. receives from the Sun.
\ Ice
Cosmic
0.9
1.7
ice and ”rock”
“Rock“ 3.3
“Rock” and iron 5.0
35
dominantly silicate body with a thin icy crust,
perhaps u p to 100 km thick. Its most distinctive
geologic feature is a network of intersecting dark
and light linear streaks (figs. 26 and 27). The dark
streaks, which are about 10 percent darker than the
surrounding terrain, are fairly straight, vary in
width from about 3 to about 70 km, and are up t o
several thousand kilometers long. They appear to
have little or no topographical relief. The light
streaks are smaller than the dark ones. They appear
to be ridges about 10 km wide and a few hundred
meters high. They also form scallops or cusps with
smooth curves that repeat regularly on a scale of
one t o several hundred meters.
These streaks may be surface manifestations
of several tectonic processes that have deformed
the ice-rich crust of this satellite. Folding in
Figure 25. Pele is the largest geyser-like eruption response to compression might have formed the
observed in Io so far. The plume is visible
above the limb of the Moon; it ascends to light ridges, while fracturing in response to either
a height of about 300 km. Markings and compression or tension might have formed the
flows are evidence of past eruptions. This dark streaks. The satellite has very few impact
view of Pele was made by Voyager 1; it is craters, which suggests a process of degradation
a mosaic produced by McEwen’s tech- such as viscous relaxation of an ice-rich crust or a
nique. When Voyager 2 arrived four process of surface rejuvenation such as volcanism
months after Voyager 1 , Pele was or flooding by liquid water released from the in-
inactive. terior through fractures.
The possibility of a liquid water ocean beneath
the surface ice is plausible theoretically as well,
rich in iron sulfide. Perhaps elemental sulfur was because, although Europa receives far less tidal
produced by dissociation of iron sulfide and heat than Io, it may receive enough to keep water
“floated” up to form the crust while iron sulfide from freezing if it were originally liquid. Early
and iron sank to form a core. theories of Europa’s structure regard it as having a
Io is also surrounded by a huge cloud of thick ice crust through which heat is transported to
neutral sodium that is thought to be sputtered from the surface by conduction rather than by solid-state
its surface or atmosphere by atomic charged par- convection. Even with radioactivity as the only
ticles in the jovian magnetosphere. Moreover, it is heat source, these models permit liquid water to ex-
highly probable that the ions of sulfur and oxygen ist below 40 km. Voyager found Europa’s density
observed throughout the entire jovian magneto- to be 3.03 g/cm3, which allows for the possibility
sphere originate from the atmosphere or surface of of a thick ice crust. (If Europa’s density had been
Io by similar processes. Studies of the torus and the same as that of denser silicates, only a thin ice
neutral cloud thus have direct bearing on Io’s sur- crust could have been considered.) The absence of
face composition and atmospheric processes. large-scale topography also suggests that the crust
Calculations suggest that Io must have possessed cannot be very thin. Now, with a thick-crust model
considerable water in bulk when it formed; ap- and with tidal heating thought to be much greater
parently the water was lost to space early in the than radioactive heating, the chances for a liquid
satellite’s history, perhaps by similar magneto- zone seem stronger than before.
spheric interactions. If the cracks on Europa represent crustal ex-
pansion during freezing of a 100-km-deep water
Europa shell, much more crustal expansion would be re-
quired. However, if the ice were deposited layer by
The density of Europa combined with the layer at the base of a n ice crust over a period of
presence of a bright icy surface indicates that it is a time, the expansion required to produce the
36
observed features could be obtained. In this case it
is conceivable there would be no liquid zone
because entrapment of the tidal heating to sustain
the liquid depends, in part, on the presence of
liquid in the first place.
All models proposed to explain the surface
features of Europa assume that the streaks express
crustal failure from stresses induced by tidal forces
or by convection deeper in the interior. One theory
suggests that as tidal forces slowed the spin of the
satellite, the equatorial bulge relaxed and caused
distinctive latitudinal variation in stress. Radial
tides then became effective and formed concentric
fracture patterns around those areas on Europa
pointing directly toward and directly away from
Jupiter. Another idea that has been considered in-
cludes the dehydration of the interior, which could
have produced global expansion, with mantle con-
Figure 26. The intriguingly smooth surface of vection adding a nonuniform stress. Whatever
Europa is marred by a network of in- their cause (and multiple causes are thought to
tersecting dark and light linear streaks have produced multiple sets), these surface mark-
which suggest that material from the in- ings are unique among the planetary surfaces
terior continues to resurface this satellite.
observed so far in our solar system. Closer inspec-
tion of their form and patterns is required before
we can develop a clear picture of how the interior
and the surface of Europa have evolved. Europa
was the least studied of all the Galilean satellites
because of the nature of the Voyager trajectory. It
is likely that closer observation will definitely
answer many of our questions about this satellite,
including the exciting possibility of a crustal sub-
surface “ocean.”
Ganymede
Callisto
Callisto is the most heavily cratered Galilean
satellite, and it is the only body larger than 1000
km in diameter in our solar system that has not
undergone extensive resurfacing since impacts
molded its surface (figs. 30 and 31). Crater den-
Figure 28. Each Galilean satellite is unique. sities in the solar system are generally two or three
Ganymede has two distinctive surface times as great as those in the most heavily cratered
types - old cratered terrain and grooved parts of Ganymede. Callisto’s surface is clearly
and modified terrain. very ancient. Some large palimpsests are present.
An extensive but degraded impact basin named
Valhalla is 600 km in diameter and surrounded by
fan-shaped arrays. Different sets intersect to form closely spaced concentric rings. Clearly, Callisto’s
a variety of reticulate patterns. This grooved ter- geologic history has been more passive than that of
rain appears to have been formed by tectonic proc- Ganymede.
esses that fractured and faulted the crust over a Most of the information about impact craters
considerable period of time early in the history of gathered since the beginning of the space age in-
the satellite, modifying or destroying the older volves craters in silicate materials of the inner
cratered terrain. Although relatively young with planets and the Moon. Both Ganymede and
respect to the darker regions, the grooved terrain is Callisto offer new opportunities to study craters in
more heavily cratered than the lava plains of the nonsilicate icy materials. The origin of central pits
Moon. in craters on Ganymede and Callisto is unknown.
One of the major geologic questions about They are probably intimately related t o energy par-
Ganymede concerns the origin of the grooved ter- titioning during impacts, an important matter for
rain. A former silicate-rich crust might have understanding the mechanism responsible for all
foundered into a water mantle, with consequent kinds of cratering.
oozing of water or ice t o the surface. One Craters on both of these large icy satellites
mechanism for this could be disruption of the provide clues t o their thermal history. Large, old
lithosphere as a result of internal expansion follow- craters are very degraded; smaller, younger craters
ing phase changes in the constituent ice. Another have shallow or domed floors; and small, young
possibility is glacier-like convection in the ice-rich craters are bowl shaped. Many craters have
mantle and rafting of lithospheric blocks, undergone some form of degradation, depending
analogous to the plate tectonics oT Earth. Answers on their age and size. The ultimate shapes of
t o these questions may possibly be obtained by craters are probably strongly controlled by the
mapping distribution patterns of the grooved ter- thickness of the lithosphere of each satellite.
rain, patterns of displacements, and details of the Ganymede and Callisto are thought to have
38
ORIGINAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
Figure 29. Plate tectonics appear to be moving Figure 30. The outermost of the Galilean satellites,
crustal plates on Ganymede, but there is Callisto, is a heavily cratered world,
still evidence of meteoroid impacts. which seems to indicate that its surface
has not changed greatly over billions of
years, in sharp contrast to the other
Galilean satellites.
accreted from a 2:l mixture of water-ice and
primitive meteoritic material rich in volatile gases,
similar to carbonaceous chondritic meteorites.
Before Voyager, we thought that internal differ-
entiation, in which light materials floated toward
the surface and dense materials sank toward the
center, could have been complete for Ganymede
and Callisto because of radioactive heating alone.
This would have resulted in an inner rocky core
and an initially convecting and liquid water mantle
capped by a thin crust of ice. In these theories, dif-
ferences between the thermal histories of
Ganymede and Callisto caused different crustal
freezing histories and hence different abilities to
preserxy the eyigifia! mixture =f silicates 2nd ice in
portions of the crust that did not melt. Also, within
the lunar-sized silicate cores of these satellites, any
possible assemblage of “carbonaceous-chrondritic”
mineral would probably have been thermally
metamorphized into a higher-temperature as-
39
ORIGINAL PA&
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
two satellites, since Ganymede is much closer to might also have been a result of this freezing of
Jupiter than is Callisto. This heating might have Ganymede’s mantle. The general absence of very
extended the period during which Ganymede had a large craters on the oldest terrain of Ganymede
thin lithosphere and hence surface activity, but on- supports the view that Ganymede started with a li-
ly by about 100 million years. Accretional heating quid mantle and a solid crust no more than 10 km
differences are not great, although they also favor thick.
a more active Ganymede. If Ganymede has a much The small-scale topography of these objects is
larger silicate core than Callisto, radioactive also a subject of considerable interest. Monostatic
heating might account for the differences. This (using the same stationary antenna to transmit and
could stretch Ganymede’s heating period to 500 receive) radar studies of the Galilean satellites from
million years. Coupled with tidal and accretional Earth reveal that the satellites are fundamentally
heating, the effect could be sufficient for different from the Moon and the terrestrial planets
Ganymede’s lithosphere to express endogenic ac- in terms of their radar scattering properties.
tivity for 1 billion years after the lithosphere of Although they have very high radar reflectivities on
Callisto. This would exempt the presently visible the average, the outer three Galilean satellites do
surface from the bombardment with rocky not show the strong radar return from the center of
material that apparently affected the most ancient their disks that is the most prominent feature in the
surfaces of the solar system. The grooved terrain radar signatures of the Moon and the terrestrial
planets. The surfaces of the Galilean satellites may
have a basically different fine-scale structure
because of the presence of ice. However, even the
polar ice caps of Mars scatter radar more like the
surfaces of the Moon and the terrestrial planets
and unlike the Galilean satellites.
In summary, the most important issues related
t o the current state of the satellites include the
nature of Io’s volcanism and the composition of its
crust; the possible existence of liquid H 2 0 zones in
Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto; and the tectonic
processes that have produced such diversity in the
geologic evolution of their crusts.
satellite is not ellipsoidal in shape. The blunt end of some half-dozen smaller craters are suspected. In
the axis points toward Jupiter, and as far as can be addition to craters, ridges are evident, as is some
determined from the Voyager data, the satellite is complex, trough-like topography near the crater
in synchronous rotation, as expected from dynamic Pan. Local relief on the satellite reaches 20 km.
theory. Its mean orbital distance is 181 300 km, Pan is at least 8 km deep, and Gaea is probably
and its albedo is far lower than those of the twice as deep.
Galilean satellites, only about 0.05. Assuming a mean density of 3 g/cm3, surface
In the Voyager images of Amalthea, gravity on Amalthea ranges from about 5 to 7
discrimination of surface features is limited, yet cm/s2. This is roughly a factor of 5 higher than on
two very large craters, Pan (90 km in diameter) and the satellites of Mars, but approximately a factor
Gaea (70 km in diameter), are clearly visible, and of 20 less than on the Moon. One expects that all
Active
volcanoes
Sulfur and
frozen SO,
-
Global
fracture
patterns
Moon Moon
P
Mercurv Mercurv
I 1
Ice crust Water
Ganymede or ice Icehock Callisto
Densitv = 1.9 a/cm3 / mantle
Fresh
crust
. Density = 1.8 g/cm3
Water
' craters or ice
expose ice mantle
Old, dark
' cratered
areas
Youna Large
/
grooved
terrain with
/
P
Moon
basins
reduced Moon
P craters
\ Fresh
intricate Mercury by ice Mercury
fracture I I flow t + expose ice
41
craters on rocky bodies the size of Amalthea will be Three major components of the ring (fig. 33)
bowl shaped. The deposition of ejecta blankets on can be identified: a bright ring with a sharp outer
this satellite should be intermediate between the edge at about 1.81 R, and a more diffuse edge at
situation on the Moon and on the satellites of about 1.72 R,, a faint ring extending from the inner
Mars. Amalthea should have developed an abun- edge of the bright ring to the surface of Jupiter,
dant regolith-like that of the Moon, but unlike and a faint halo of material extending some 104 km
that of small asteroids - that may contain abun- above the ring plane which we believe indicates
dant, impact-generated glass. electromagnetic effects on small ring particles. All
The color and reflectance characteristics discussions of ring particles so far assume that the
(darkness and redness) of Amalthea may be af- particles are dark like Amalthea and the inner
fected by the satellite’s extreme environment. Pro- satellites. While this assumption is reasonable, no
longed exposure to charged particles in the jovian definitive measurements exist t o prove this point.
magnetosphere, contaminants such as sulfur from Also, no definitive information concerning the col-
Io, and high-velocity micrometeoroids might com- or of the ring particles exists.
bine to darken and redden Amalthea’s surface The environment of the inner satellites and the
material. Laboratory measurements on mixtures of rings is severe. The surfaces are exposed to high
carbonaceous materials with sulfur allotropes pro- doses of energetic ions, protons, and electrons in
vide good (but not necessarily unique) matches to the jovian magnetosphere and high-velocity
the red spectrum and low albedo of the satellite. micrometeoritic bombardment, as well as probable
An inner satellite, Adrastea (1979J1), with a contamination by gas and dust from Io. For in-
diameter of about 25 km, was discovered at the stance, the surface of Amalthea is subjected to
outer edge of Jupiter’s ring. The surfaces of fluxes of 10s particles/cmZ/s of protons in the 1 to
Adrastea and other small objects suspected t o exist 10 MeV range. Absorption of protons and elec-
near the ring may well be a source for ring par- trons by the satellite is readily apparent in the
ticles. Adrastea may also interact dynamically with Pioneer 10 and 11 particles and fields data.
the ring particles in a manner similar to that of the However, although Pioneer did detect effects later
small satellites near the edges of Saturn’s rings. found to be related to the rings, no particles and
The second inner satellite, Thebe (197952), fields measurements directly pertinent to the inner
was discovered during analysis of Voyager satellites were obtained on these missions.
photographs in the spring of 1980. A comparative- In addition to high doses of protons and elec-
ly large object, it orbits at a mean distance of 3 trons, the inner satellites are subjected to impacts
Jupiter radii (R,). (Jupiter’s equatorial radius is by heavy ions-mostly sulfur (S), oxygen (0),and
71 398 km.) Its diameter is 80 f 10 km, and its sodium (Na)-diffusing away from Io. Any
reflectance is comparable to that of Amalthea. material injected into the inner side of the Io torus
The third of the inner satellites, Metis will tend to diffuse toward Jupiter and thus in-
(1979J3), was discovered in the late summer of teract effectively with the inner satellites and the
1980 while additional images of Adrastea were be- ring. Small charged dust particles may be removed
ing sought. This new satellite orbits close t o the from the immediate vicinity of Io by the sweeping
outer edge of the ring at a mean distance of 1.8 R,. action of Jupiter’s magnetic field and eventually
Its diameter is 40+ km, and its reflectance is also reach the ring. In the case of Amalthea, such
comparable to that of Amalthea. material will impact the surface at 60 km/s. Un-
Both Adrastea and Metis appear t o be in- charged micrometeoroids originating outside the
timately connected with Jupiter’s ring. It is even jovian system will impact the surface with average
possible that these two objects represent the two velocities near 40 km/s. Thus, the spec-
largest lumps of a whole spectrum of fragments. trophotometric characteristics of the surface may
While most of the ring consists of small, have been profoundly altered by the environment.
micrometer-sized particles, some kilometer-sized The unusual red color and low albedo of Amalthea
objects could well exist but have not been detected. could be the result of the high doses of electrons,
Continued erosion of these larger chunks may protons, heavy ions, and especially of sulfur-
resupply the small particles needed to maintain the bearing dust from Io, in which case the smaller in-
ring. ner satellites and the larger particles in the ring
42
They have been designed t o provide complemen-
tary data.
Imaging: Surface Geology
The Galileo imaging experiment will lead to
improved understanding of almost every aspect of
jovian satellite geology. The highly successful
Voyager mission revealed the geologic style of each
of the satellites and raised crucial questions regard-
ing their evolution. With Galileo we will begin
systematic exploration of each of the bodies and
address some of the questions raised by Voyager
data. These imaging tasks will be accomplished by
means of increased mission flexibility, passes 20 to
100 times closer than Voyager, a 20-month en-
counter sequence, and a camera with spectral
resolution and range, light sensitivity, and
photometric fidelity that are significantly improved
over those flown on the Voyager spacecraft due to
Figure 33. This striking view of Jupiter’s ring was advances in the state of the art. Pertinent instru-
recorded by Voyager 2 in 1979 at a ment parameters are given in chapter 7.
distance of 1.5 million km. The unex-
pected brightness is probably due to for- The special excitement of the Galileo imaging
ward scattering of sunlight by small ring experiment derives in part from our ability to
particles. Seen within the inner edge of observe the changing face of Io over a period of
the brighter ring is a fainter ring which two years, obtain our first high-resolution images
may extend all the way down to Jupiter’s of Europa, and complement Voyager’s satellite
cloud tops. coverage at even higher resolutions. Additional
highlights of Galileo’s imaging experiment include
guidance from the results of both Voyager and
should have similar colors and albedos. Another prior Galileo passes; greater light sensitivity for
interesting possibility is that the unusual spec- studies of dark sides, Callisto, and the irregular
trophotometric properties of Amalthea are due to satellites; better spectral resolution; and a more
the production of sulfur-bearing glasses in the sur- diagnostic spectral range reaching into the in-
face layer. frared. The importance of a single parameter,
Available data indicate that all inner satellites resolution, is worth illustrating from a qualitative
and the particles in the ring are dark. Perhaps fur- point of view: resolution improvements over
ther analysis of Voyager data may permit us to test Voyager for Galileo result from a combination of
whether the colors of these objects are also similar. improved encounter characteristics and camera im-
More likely, we will have to wait until more data, provements. Such resolution improvements - ex-
particularly spectral albedo measurements of the ceeding a factor of about 2 or 3 -can result in both
inner satellites, become available. Thus, the inner a quantitative change in our understanding of
satellites are not only of great interest as primordial geologic processes and a radical qualitative change
relics, but are also of great interest as probes of the in our perception of the overall character or
peculiar magnetospheric environment and as catch- “physical personality” of an object. Figure 34 il-
alls for a peculiar planetary mass transfer process. lustrates how enhanced resolution will aid in identi-
fying the processes that can be inferred from mor-
phology.
Solid-Body Science Studies
Four optical remote sensing science in- Io. Among the key issues concerning Io’s sur-
struments will be mounted aboard a steerable scan face geology are the global distribution and
platform appended to the orbiter’s despun section. chronology of volcanism, the styles of volcanism,
43
H
Figure 34. Both high-resolution images of specific features and lower-resolution images of broad areas are necessary to
understand the “regional context” of the surface of a planetary body. These pairs of images at similar resolutions and areal
coverage compare Earth with Io in an attempt to illustrate the expected resolution enhancement by the Galileo mission. Areas
covered in succeeding images are outlined in the preceding images.
Earth (photo a) and Io (photo e) are shown here in relative scale to each other. In this photograph of Earth, one can study
the gross structure of the surface but little can be said about the topography or geologic processes of the planet. Similarly,
in the Io image, one is struck by its multicolored patches, but the boundaries between these areas are fuzzy and little can
be deduced about Io’s geologic processes. There seem to be no impact craters as one would normally expect to see.
In images b and f, the resolution is about 5 kilometers. On Earth (photo b), one can no longer see an entire continent.
Some topographical details are visible, yet there is little information about Earth’s geologic processes. In photo f, one can
start to see geologic detail on Io such as volcanic calderas (left center) and mountains (lower right). (Geologic features such
as these are much larger on Io than on Earth.)
Photo c is a LANDSAT image of an area of the western United States stretching from Lake Tahoe (upper left) to Lake
Mead (lower right) at about 1 kilometer resolution. This resolution is comparable to the very best Voyager images of IO.
It is now possible to see different types of geologic structure and to infer some of the geologic processes that are occurring
in this region. Lakes, rivers, and erosional patterns can be clearly identified. The different colors of the regions indicate
44
ORIGINAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
I
Area: Resolution: Area: Resolution:
400 x 400 km 1 krnllp 8x8km 20 rnllp
( g ) Voyager 1, March 1979, vidicon imaging ( h ) Typical Galileo frame size, 1988-1990,
system charge coupled device in solid- state imaging
system
that they are composed of different materials. With additional study of this image, one could determine the relative ages
of the various parts of this region and could deduce its geologic history. Photo g is representative of the very best Voyager
pictures of Io; only a few pictures were obtained at this resolution. This picture is typical of Galileo’s resolution for at least
50 percent of the surfaces of the Galilean satellites. Details of flow features on the flanks of Maasaw Patera are now visible,
including the scarp that extends around the dark flow features. This provides information about the tectonic setting of Maasaw
Patera. One can now see that in some cases color differences are superimposed on the topography, indicating that the colors
are caused by a relatively thin covering of materials overlying a surface constructed by other forces.
Photo d, a LANDSAT photo of an area at the center of photo c, has a resolution of 50 meters and is typical of the very
best resolution that will be obtained by Galileo. The detail in this picture allows studies of the erosional processes occurring
in this region. Studies of the outwash patterns and their paths down the sides of the mountains can reveal a great deal about
the sequence of geologic events. The physical state of the outwash materials (e.g., loose or consolidated) can be estimated
from the topography. Differences in the color and brightnesses of the outwashed material suggest differences in the composi-
tion or particle sizes of the materials. From this, one can estimate how fast the materials were washed down from the
mountains-gradually or catastrophically-and if other geologic processes redistributed these materials after they were deposited
on the slopes of the mountains. Photo h must remain blank until Galileo flies by Io in 1988, but the very best resolution
will be about 20 meters, allowing studies of portions of each of the Galilean satellites in images as detailed as photo d.
45
mineralogic and chemical changes in the composi- with respect t o plume stability and scattering prop-
tion of effused material with time, and the relation- erties. We will be observing Io after a lapse of
ship between the bulk composition and global several years and will readily establish whether the
geophysical evolution of Io and its surface plumes observed by Voyager are still active or
volcanism and tectonics. whether an entirely new set has formed. We will
Galileo’s imaging experiment will make a variety also be able to determine from the topography and
of observations pertinent to these issues. Com- albedo markings whether other plumes formed in
parison of the surface conditions with what was the interim and died out, Furthermore, by con-
observed by Voyager will lead directly t o a better tinually monitoring plume activity for two years we
determination of eruption rates. Repeated will determine whether activity is episodic,
moderate-resolution imaging observations of Io’s periodic, or continuous and on what time
surface will occur over a period of two years from scale- all of which is essential for understanding
about the orbit of Europa. New flows, as well as plume mechanics and the overall energy dissipation
areas in which the former topography has been system for the entire body. Much of the value of
buried by plume debris, may be identified. In addi- the SSI experiment will be synergistic with com-
tion, the capability to resolve craters smaller than positional [near-infrared mapping spectrometer
100 m will place much narrower constraints on (N I M S)] and radiometric (photopolarimeter-
resurfacing rates than is now possible with the 1 to radiometer) mapping (see below). It will put that
5 km data. The combination of crater data (if any) data in a morphologic context. The compositions
and differencing (exacting comparison) with suggested by SSI data will surely be tentative and
Voyager pictures may thus result in identification dependent on confirmation from NIMS data.
of areas in which volcanic activity has occurred in However, the imaging experiment has the best
the eight years since Voyager, as well as areas in chance of isolating almost pure spectral com-
which little activity has occurred for millions of ponents. Thus, it will help us understand how to
years. The silicate-sulfur controversy discussed begin t o identify individual components from the
earlier may be resolved partly on the basis of de- high-resolution NIMS reflection spectra. Con-
tailed surface morphology. The shape of lava flows versely, compositional identification with the
depends to a large extent on the properties of the multifilter SSI system will be backed up by the
erupted lava. Detailed examination of flow dimen- NIMS system with a 200-element infrared spectrum
sions, shapes, and subsidiary features such as lava at a spacial resolution several times lower than that
channels, tubes, and levees will give an indication of the SSI system (discussed in the next section).
of the variety of eruptive styles, place constraints The SSI experiment also has the best chance of
on lava composition, and possibly allow us to associating compositional with morphologic
distinguish sulfur flows from silicate ones. Par- boundaries; this is a key way to answer genetic
ticularly important will be the vertical dimensions. questions.
Flow thickness depends strongly on its rheology; Europa. Among the key questions concerning
hence lava composition can be inferred from ver- Europa’s geology are the following. How many
tical dimensions. Caldera depths are limited by the, components of the prominent fracture patterns are
strength of the surface materials-again by com- there, and what is the chronology and genesis of
position. Special emphasis will therefore be placed each? What are the detailed characteristics of the
on acquiring quantitative information on stripes, and what are the relationships between the
topography. various surface morphologic features we might ex-
Many flows appear t o have alteration zones pect to see (e.g., cracks, cusps, and ridges of
around their peripheries. These zones may be various ages) and their compositions? How thick is
caused by condensation of volatile gases (SO*, S) the ice crust, and what lies beneath (liquid H2O?
outgassed from the lava, but there are other possi- volcanically active silicate?)? Have there ever been
ble explanations. Study of the zonal colors and floods of liquid H 2 0 on the surface? What is the
their relations t o the surrounding features should global energy history, and how has it been affected
narrow the possibilities. by jovian tidal stresses or more familiar energy
The main contribution of solid-state imaging sources? How old is the surface, and how do the
(SSI) to understanding plume dynamics will be various surface areas relate to each other? Has
46
Europa’s surface been affected by external A second question with respect to Ganymede,
meteoritic and atomic particle bombardment? and one not entirely unconnected with the grooved
Galileo imaging has the potential to resolve or terrain, concerns the evolution of the viscoelastic
at least shed additional light on the question of properties of the crust. In many parts of Ganymede
how Europa has evolved by: we see palimpsests, bright circular features with lit-
tle relief. These appear t o be ancient craters that
Adding to coverage in the polar regions to have undergone recovery by some form of creep.
observe fracture patterns. Extensional The size and age give indications of the rheologic
features (e.g., graben or other depressions) properties of the early crust. Additional clues to
would support tidal despinning models; com- the viscoelastic properties of the crust are provided
pressional features such as ridges would sup- b y the shape of impact craters, particularly the
port the expansion-convection model. presence and absence of central peaks and central
Acquiring high-resolution images that would pits, and the dimensional relations between various
permit identification of small impact craters crater features such as depth and diameter. By
and so place tighter constraints on the timing assembling data on the size and frequency distribu-
of tectonic and resurfacing rates. tion of palimpsests, assessing their ages by the
number of superposed craters, and assembling
Acquiring high-resolution and/or stereo detailed data on crater shapes and sizes of con-
images of the various streaks t o provide a bet- stituent features, the SSI experiment will yield a
ter definition of their morphology and se- better understanding of the deformational proper-
quence of formation. Such definition would ties of the Ganymede crust and how they have
place further constraints on various tectonic changed with time. This in turn will allow us to in-
models and may reveal changes in style and fer more about the thermal evolution of the in-
composition of aqueous and other eruptions terior.
with time.
Callisto. The photometric data obtained by
In summary, both the zonal structure and the the imaging experiment will allow comparison of
surface geology on Europa are unique among the the spectral reflectance of individual tiny areas on
planetary objects observed so far in the solar Ganymede, equal to a single picture element, with
system. Better definition of the surface mor- those on other objects and laboratory samples.
phology and distribution of compositional units This will allow us to answer questions such as, “Is
will lead to improved understanding of how the in- the most pristine part of the ancient crater on
terior and the surface of the satellite have evolved. Ganymede the same as terrain on Callisto?” Here
the imaging must be linked with the considerably
Ganymede. Among the key issues to be ad- lower spatial resolution but much higher spectral
dressed by the imaging experiment o n Ganymede is resolution (and greater wavelength range) data
the origin of “renewed” or tectonically modified from NIMS to form compositional maps.
terrain (as opposed t o what appears t o be terrain The main problems to be addressed by the im-
relics from the last stages of accretional bombard- aging experiment on Callisto have to d o with
ment) and its relationship to the energy history of cratering processes and the possibly primordial
the planet. nature of portions of the surface and the materials
To understand the formation mechanics of on it. Much of the experimental, theoretical, and
this renewed or “grooved” terrain, we must study observational data on impact craters concerns
its distribution pattern, the pattern of displace- silicates. High-resolution views of Callisto will pro-
ments (rift, shear, or compression together with vide a wealth of new data on primary shapes of
directions), the detailed morphology of zones of in- craters on icy bodies, data which are essential for
teraction between different belts, and the mor- the theoretical and experimental modeling of such
phology of the grooves themselves. Galileo will craters. Recognition of impact melt deposits in or
contribute in all of these areas by increasing the around craters on Ganymede and Callisto would
area of the planet that is covered at useful resolu- aid greatly in constraining such calculations and
tion and by acquiring high-resolution samples in would serve as a point for comparison with craters
appropriate areas. on the rocky terrestrial planets. In a related area,
41
the origin of central pits seen in craters on been completed, it appears certain that several
Ganymede and Callisto (and parts of Mars) is passes near the orbit of Europa (9.5 R,) will occur.
unknown, although numerous hypotheses have While it is true that the spacecraft will make one
been advanced. Because these features are prob- pass close to Io during insertion into Jupiter orbit,
ably intimately related to energy partitioning dur- it is unlikely that much attention will be paid to the
ing impacts, the importance of how central pits inner satellites during this very busy period. For-
form cannot be overemphasized - not only in terms tunately, given the likelihood of repeated observa-
of cratering in ice, but in the general context of im- tions from 10 R, (perijove), it may be shown that
pact cratering. the Galileo coverage of the inner satellites will be
As on Ganymede, the crater population con- comparable in resolution to the Voyager coverage
tains a record of the satellite’s thermal history. of Amalthea: 8 to 9 km/line pair (a line pair refers
Large old craters are palimpsests, smaller younger to the CCD array of columns and rows).
craters have shallow or domed floors, and small Thus, we can expect to learn a great deal about
young craters are bowl-shaped. Clearly, many Amalthea and the other inner satellites from
craters have undergone some form of recovery Galileo. We should be able to determine the
(return to preimpact states), and the degree of shapes, rotation states, accurate albedos, and col-
recovery depends on the age and size of the crater. ors. Color is especially important in light of the
Mapping the distribution of the different classes of possibility that all the inner surfaces are being
craters may allow us to date the various stages in polluted with material from Io. We predict that the
the development of the lithosphere and compare surfaces of all the inner satellites are dark and red
the timing of the like stages of Ganymede. like that of Amalthea. The Galileo experiment will
Since Callisto’s surface is the oldest and least greatly extend the spectral coverage of the inner
modified surface we have viewed in detail, the satellites. The imaging experiment alone will pro-
nature of the nonicy and possibly primordial vide high-quality photometric data between 0.4
material is of great interest. Since there appears to and 1.0 pm, while the NIMS may extend this
be some global physical asymmetry on Callisto, we coverage out to 5 pm, at least in the case of
must determine whether the nonicy material is in- Amalthea. It will be especially important to com-
deed indigenous to Callisto or is merely infall. It pare the spectrophotometric characteristics of the
could well be unmodified primordial material in small ring particles and the associated satellites
either case. Detailed studies of photometric proper- (Adrastea and Metis).
ties of the darkest material and its morphologic
relationship to lighter material could be crucial to Imaging: Bulk Composition and Internal
understanding the history of the nonicy compo- Zonation
nent. Again, synergism with NIMS is apparent,
with imaging providing information on the
Along with radio tracking, the imaging experi-
physical placement of nonicy material and the
ment will also make major contributions to our
nature of the contacts with ice, while the NIMS ex-
knowledge of the bulk composition, internal zona-
periment may possibly provide specific absorption
tion, and physical state of the satellites. Knowledge
band identification.
about the size and shape of a satellite, together
Amalthea and Inner Satellites. Additional with its mass and gravitational moments, can pro-
coverage of Amalthea at resolutions comparable to vide evidence of internal differentiation or orbital
the best obtained by Voyager will enable us to evolution and constrain models of internal struc-
determine more accurately the shape of this ir- ture and composition.
regularly shaped satellite, as well as to chart its Interesting questions include the following.
largest surface features more completely. Addi- Are the interiors of these satellites homogeneous or
tional spectrophotometric coverage of the bright differentiated? Are they in hydrostatic equi-
spots should help in unraveling their compositional librium? Do they possess cores? What size? One
nature, while comparisons with the other inner major source of information o n internal structure
satellites may help distinguish between endogenic and physical state is the radio tracking experiment
and exogenic effects. (see below). However, another major contribution
Although selection of a tour trajectory has not comes from imaging: accurate measurements of
48
radii and shape should be made, and measurements distribution is best served by a synergistic combina-
of principal moments of inertia of the satellites are tion of the NIMS and imaging experiments, and
very important along with the tracking data to con- the anticipation of this postencounter blending of
strain models of internal structure. the data has influenced the design of both of these
Since the Galileo encounters are flybys, the instruments and the mission.
quality (resolution) of the pictures will vary from The Galileo NIMS investigation represents a
region to region over the surfaces of the satellites. new philosophy in remote sensing on planetary
Thus, the accuracy of the radii measurements will spacecraft. It combines, in one experiment,
vary; in some areas, however, an accuracy of 1 to 3 moderate to high spectroscopic and imaging
km should be possible. In other areas, the accuracy capabilities (chapter 7) and utilizes the infrared
will drop t o a few kilometers. The mean radii region out to 5.0 pm, which is highly diagnostic of
should be well determined and radii of the best-fit both atmospheric and surface species. Although
ellipsoids measured to an accuracy of a few the experiment philosophy is new, this instrument
kilometers. has not required new development, being simply
the marriage of a telescope with a spectrometer.
This instrument capability, coupled with the or-
Mapping Spectrometry: Mineral Mapping and bital coverage provided by the Galileo mission,
Radiometry allows unique geologic investigations of the jovian
satellites, along with a broad range of studies of
To understand the chemical composition and Jupiter’s atmosphere. The objectives of the in-
physical state of the satellites, knowledge of the frared spectrometer experiment are to map mineral
minerals or phases present on the surfaces is re- compositional units on the surfaces of the jovian
quired, along with the distribution of such com- satellites and t o characterize the mineral content of
positional units in relationship to the surface these units.
geology and morphology. Specifically, one can contrast the capabilities
Vast differences between surface composition of the NIMS experiment with classic imaging ex-
and bulk composition seem t o be as much the rule periments and pure spectroscopic investigations.
l as the exception among solar system objects. For imaging experiments, as exemplified by
Nonetheless, our experience has shown that Galileo’s imaging system, one obtains a very high
i knowledge of surface mineral distribution and its spatial resolving power - a factor of 25 better than
relationship to surface geology, when combined the NIMS experiment -but limited spectral infor-
with other information, usually provides many mation. The SSI camera contains only seven spec-
clues to the formational conditions and evolu- tral channels and one broadband channel.
tionary history of the object as a whole. The classes Therefore, the imaging system will be able to make
of minerals that are known or suspected t o be on high spatial resolution multispectral images, but
the satellites include ice and frosts, various forms detailed spectroscopic characterization will depend
of sulfur and sulfides, salts, primary igneous rock- on NIMS. In contrast to the customary imaging
forming minerals (for example, iron-bearing
’
system, previous spectral investigations have been
silicates), products of alteration by water (clays), directed toward very high spectral resolution at the
and possibly carbonaceous compounds. Knowl- expense of spatial information. Consequently,
edge of the mineral composition and distribution such measurements have been directed toward
on a satellite surface provides some of the most global properties or constrained to individual
useful evidence for studying formation history and localized features.
subsequent evolution. This is so because the The longest wavelength achievable by the im-
phases, or minerals, present reflect not only the aging experiment is 1.1 pm. The NIMS spectral
assemblage of chemical elements incorporated into range of 0.7 t o 5.2 pm includes many of the spec-
the forming sate!!ite, but a!se (fer examp!e) a tra! features cf rr,ateria!s that might be expected te
record of the chemical evolution of the interior occur on the satellite surfaces. (It should be noted,
reservoirs from which the materials were sequen- however, that the NIMS spectral range was de-
tially derived. For this reason, the Galileo payload signed t o overlap that of the imagery to facilitate
includes the NIMS, described in chapter 7 . The ob- the synergistic “blending” of data, as indicated
jective of mapping the satellite’s surface mineral above.) Sunlight that is reflected from the surface
49
shows spectral features, or absorption bands, due will be useful for understanding the energy outflow
to molecular and lattice vibration transitions, from Io and its time and space variations-
which are often diagnostic of composition, band- especially when combined with the photo-
ing, and lattice structure. Examples of some ab- polarimeter-radiometer data (see below).
sorption bands and an example of the sharp con- During the 20-month period of orbital opera-
trast in whole-disk spectra shown by the Galileo tions, multiple passes of Europa, Ganymede, and
satellites are given in figure 35. If one considers the Callisto will occur. With these frequent observa-
extreme variability exhibited by these objects, it tions, NIMS will be able t o map large areas of each
becomes clear that the type of “whole-disk” spec- satellite. By the end of the mission, roughly half of
tral information shown in the figure, although the surface of each of these three satellites will be
largely unambiguous, would be greatly enhanced if spectrally mapped at a resolution of about 25 km
the composite whole-disk spectra could be broken or better. In addition, NIMS will obtain spectra of
down into these components. Recent laboratory Amalthea and perhaps Jupiter’s ring and two of the
studies also suggest that information concerning outer satellites, 56 and 57.
such parameters as grain size and intimacy of mix- The NIMS resolution of Io at perijove, at-
ing can often be gleaned from the spectra along tained repeatedly during the course of the mission,
with the phase identification. is 300 km. This means that the evolution of Io’s
Regardless of detailed mineral identifications, local or regional surface composition can be
spectral classification of compositional units and monitored with high spectral resolution by NIMS
mapping of these units over the satellite surfaces for two years and correlated with variation in ther-
are powerful tools for understanding satellite mal emission as observed by NIMS and from
geologic processes. These studies are enhanced Earth.
when compositional unit maps are combined with
images and data from other scan platform ex- Ultraviolet Spectrometry: Atmospheric and
periments. Surface Studies
A crucial point is that Earth-based observa-
tions have already revealed many deep absorption The ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS) will iden-
bands on the satellites, despite the fact that only tify atomic and molecular gases in the atmosphere
hemisphere spectra are available. This implies the of the satellites and their distribution in altitude
possibility that when NIMS resolves the and location. The UVS is sensitive t o small quan-
hemisphere into many thousands of spectral tities of H, 0, N, C, S, N2, NO, C2, Mg, CO, S02,
elements, many spectral features which are mated, N:, C O + , CO;, and Mg+. It will identify those
suggestive, or even imperceptible in the whole-disk constituents on the surface which are ultraviolet ac-
spectra may become exceedingly strong owing to tive (e.g., SO2, NH3, 0 3 ) and obtain some infor-
the concentration of particular mineral com- mation as t o physical characteristics such as grain
ponents in that particular field of view. Even when size. It will also measure plasma torus properties,
operating at the highest spatial resolution, the field including emissions from multiply ionized oxygen
of view is apt t o include several components. This and sulfur as observed by Voyager.
is where imaging of the same field will be of great The ability of the Galileo UVS to measure
interpretive value for NIMS. relatively small spatial domains increases the
Thermal emission from the hot spots on Io can chances of finding local concentrations of ultra-
also be used by NIMS to investigate the satellite. violet-active substances. Already, even in whole-
The warm “lakes” and calderas radiate in the in- disk spectra, the Earth-orbital International
frared, and a portion of this emission occurs in the Ultraviolet Explorer satellite has identified spectra
NIMS spectral range. The distribution and features associated with frozen SO2 on Io and
characteristics of these hot spots will be in- longitudinally mapped them and was able to iden-
vestigated during the Io flyby and on each subse- tify features associated with implanted sulfur on
quent orbit. The latter measurements, when ob- Europa and torus emission features beyond the
tained near perijove, will be performed at a spatial wavelength range of Voyager. The Galileo UVS
resolution of about 300 km on Io’s surface, a size will be able t o map these in detail. The ability of
comparable t o some of the larger hot spots. This the UVS to measure atmospheric species with good
50
ORIGINAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
0.80
0.60
._
V
L
S 0.40
E
0
0.20
1 00 2 00 3 00 4 00 5 00
Wavelength (pm)
1 .oo -
Figure 35. Telescopic spectra of the Galilean satellites o,80 -
of Jupiter (upper panel) compared to labo- ‘SO2 Frost
ratory measurements (lower). The full-disk ,
spectrum of Io at the top shows an infrared 150.60 -
absorption band at 4.1 pm. Laboratory H 2 0 Frost
measurements shown below indicate that this %
band corresponds to sulfur dioxide (SO,), 0.40 -
which may occur on Io’s surface as a frost
or adsorbed species. The spectra of the outer 0 . 2 ~-
Galilean satellites-Europa, Ganymede, and -
Callisto-show absorption features similar to
the laboratory spectrum of water frost. The
51
vertical spatial resolution may help us to under- measurements made by NIMS and is the only in-
stand not only the escape rates but also the proc- strument on Galileo that can measure the normal
esses that have propelled the molecules into the at- thermal emission of absorbed sunlight from the
mosphere (e.g., thermal versus sputtering). Galilean satellites. Thus, the PPR is necessary for
During the 20-month mission, the UVS will any direct measurements of surface temperature
map changes in frozen and absorbed SO2 coverage and the thermophysical properties of the surfaces.
on Io from about 10 R, and correlate these data Io and its volcanic hot spots present a special
with variations in torus emissions and the general case of great scientific interest. For spots much
fields and particles environment as measured by hotter than the ambient background, measure-
the fields and particles instruments. ments of thermal emission can be made by NIMS,
The UVS spectral coverage is from 1150 to with its higher spatial resolution and its imaging
4300 angstroms. The addition of some 300 spectral capability, as well as with the PPR. Indeed, if the
bands in this range complements the eight charge- spots are at a temperature of 400 K or higher, more
coupled device camera filters in the visible and of their energy will fall within the spectral range of
nearest infrared, as well as the 200 NIMS visible NIMS than of the PPR. During the initial close
and infrared bands, and virtually assures iden- flyby of Io, both instruments will d o an excellent
tification of any spectrally active species that is a job, and together they can give a comprehensive
major constituent of any spatial domain on the picture of thermal radiation from hot spots over a
order of tens of kilometers. Instrument charac- wide spectral range. Later in the tour, when en-
teristics are given in chapter 7 . counters take place at much greater distances, both
instruments lose capability. Generally, however,
NIMS remains more sensitive to hot-spot radiation
Photopolarimetry-Radiometry: Thermal than does the PPR for all encounters and spot
Structures sizes, and for the more distant encounters and the
small spots, the ability of the PPR is quite limited.
The fourth instrument on Galileo’s scan plat-
form is the photopolarimeter-radiometer (PPR).
This instrument is capable of measuring surface Particles and Fields
temperatures, heat flow, emissivity, and thermal
inertia for the areas within its field of view. On a Magnetometry
close flyby, this field of view could provide 2.5-km
resolution! We will learn much about global heat The study of any induced or intrinsic magnetic
flow on Io and the role of discrete sources. Also, fields associated with the satellites will be impor-
we will investigate the crustal structure in volcanic tant for our understanding of the interior structure
areas via heat flow mapping to gain insights into composition and dynamics of the satellites; the way
the mechanisms of volcanism. Synoptic observa- that magnetospheric particles impinge on and af-
tions of Io made from distances near Europa’s or- fect the evolution of satellite surfaces and at-
bit over 20 months will allow correlation of both mospheres, including temporal variations; and
regional and global heat flow with regional and fundamentals of physics of magnetic field genera-
global changes in albedo, depth of absorption tion in solid objects of the solar system.
bands in the ultraviolet and infrared, torus ion Along with other properties, the Galilean
population, and other expected regional and global satellites may have global or regional magnetic
variations. In addition, passive thermal measure- fields arising from dynamo activity, fossil
ments on all the satellites will greatly augment our magnetization, or electrical induction. These fac-
understanding of the thermophysical properties tors involve a key class of parameters in defining
and from that, the textural nature of the near- the internal intrinsic physical and chemical states
surface materials. Finally, the instrument will of the satellites. Our understanding of the various
measure albedo and photometric functions of the means of creating such planetary magnetic fields is
material, thereby complementing compositional limited, since this is a relatively new area of study.
measurements by the NIMS, UVS, and SSI in- Of the three means of magnetization men-
struments. tioned above, dynamo action due to self-
T h e PPR complements t h e t h e r m a l regenerated magnetic fields arising from coupled
52
convective (and conducting) fluid motions and a dynamo field would be detectable. This is so
preexisting magnetic fields in planetary interiors because, for example, sea water conductivity
has the longest history and is generally dealt with in would probably have t o be augmented by several
the most detail. For the Galilean satellites, the orders of magnitude to produce an effective
possibility of such dynamo activity is mediated dynamo fluid. The question is still open, however.
strongly by the exotic interior constituents thought A detectable dynamo field on Io seems more likely
to be present, with water (probably salty) being a because Io’s interior is probably extremely hot and
possible ingredient of the interiors of at least sustains an average surface heat flow over an order
Ganymede and Callisto. Even for Io, the density of magnitude greater than that of Earth. The high-
appears low for any expectation of a substantial density material we would expect to find in Io’s
fraction of iron, the most common high- deep material would probably be mainly FeS rather
conductivity material. Nevertheless, even subre- than Fe, based on chemical considerations. If so,
generative dynamo activity appears possible for the conductivity would be almost three orders of
these objects; this increases the likelihood that magnitude less than that of molten Fe. Thus, the
there is a global magnetic field due to dynamic difference would presumably have t o be made up
processes in the interiors. Alternatively, the fact by much more vigorous convection than in the
that the Moon is endowed with a spectrum of local deep Earth, for example, for Io to have a strong
and regional magnetic fields increases the possibili- field. Perhaps Io’s enormous tidal input could
ty that a similar form of fossil magnetization is satisfy this requirement. Also, the theory suggests
present on one or more of the jovian satellites. the requirements for generating and sustaining a
Finally, electromagnetic induction cannot be ruled dynamo field are much less when the object is itself
out as a dynamic source of magnetic fields in the situated within a strong magnetosphere such as
neighborhood of the Galilean satellites. that of Jupiter. Finally, there is the possibility of
For these three main classes of field sources, permanent magnetization of these objects. Mer-
fundamental constraints on the internal physical cury was not expected to have a field because of its
and chemical constitution prevail. In all cases, the solid interior, but it does. The Moon’s crust also
presence of magnetic fields associated with the exhibits substantial permanent paleomagnetism, as
satellites implies strong but still poorly understood d o the oceanic and continental crusts of Earth
constraints on heat flux, internal thermal regimes (although global properties of such rock
including heat sources, and internal chemistry. Of magnetism - as opposed to specimen proper-
equal interest is the effect on the neighborhood of ties - are generally overridden by Earth’s strong
these objects if a global magnetic field is present, global field). In summary, satellite magnetic fields
for such a field will couple the planet and its at- may be studied from Galileo and may reveal much
mosphere (and especially ionosphere) to the am- concerning the composition, state, and dynamics
bient jovian magnetospheric plasma. of their interiors.
The chances of detecting a dynamo field
associated with Ganymede and Callisto may be Plasma Experiment
slight. First, these objects may be frozen
throughout because of the efficiency with which The interaction between jovian magneto-
solid-state convection removes heat from the in- spheric particles and the satellites’ surfaces puts
teriors. There is a possibility that salts may have satellite surface material into the magnetosphere.
been extensively leached from the interior, lower- This material in turn is ionized and returns to the
ing the melting point. Obviously, incipient satellite surface with sufficient energy to eject still
crystalization of the interior will concentrate these more surface material. Thus, the satellites are bom-
salts in solution. However, preliminary estimates barded with their own surface material as well as
are that only a small deep liquid zone might exist in with material initially derived from Jupiter or the
each i n eql-!i!ihrilJm, with radiogenic heat produc- Sun. Snm-e sate!!ite materia! is comp!ete!y ejected,
tion and loss if solid-state convection is effective in resulting in loss from the satellite, and some simply
the overlying solid ice. Even if the zone were receives enough energy to be launched on a trajec-
augmented, say by concentration of uranium and tory such that it reimpacts the satellite elsewhere.
potassium in the liquid or by inefficiency of con- The latter can strongly affect population of the at-
vection in the overlying solid, it is not clear whether mosphere - especially on satellites or parts of
53
satellites where thermal processes are relatively vian environment with masses between 10-I6 and
unimportant because of the low vapor pressure g. The parameters to be studied include the
curves of the available materials or because of the mass, speed, flight direction, and charge of in-
low temperatures. dividual particles. The impact rate, size distribu-
In steady state, there is a population of tion, angular distribution, and charge will be deter-
satellite-derived material around the satellites. Line mined with respect t o the jovian distance, the
emission from the Io torus can even be detected distance from the satellites, and the magneto-
and the torus mapped from Earth. In situ orbital spheric coordinates.
compositional measurements of satellite surface
material is therefore possible. In principle, such The primary specific objectives are:
plasma measurements constitute an exceedingly t o search for evidence of “rings” of particles in
powerful “cross constraint” on surface composi- jovian orbits, in addition t o the ring observed
tional models, because all the other tools at our by Voyagers 1 and 2.
disposal on Galileo are oriented toward phase com-
position, with elemental composition as an indirect t o search for the particles responsible for
fallout. In contrast, the plasma measurements ex- generating both the visible ring and any other
amine directly the elemental (ionic) composition of rings that may be found; to determine whether
the plasma and only indirectly the nature of the the ring particles are secondary ejecta from a
surface phase from which it derived. The plasma minor moon (or moons). If not, then a science
instrument can measure electrons and ions from 1 objective will be to determine the true origin
eV to 50 keV, as well as identify and measure fluxes of the rings.
of the major species derived from satellite surfaces: t o examine the hypothesis that there is a
Na’, K’, and S’, as well as the dominant ambient Jupiter-orbiting population of dust particles
species, H’, He+, and He2’. In general, the radial not in rings that may have derived from
distributions of satellite-derived ions a n d mutual collisions of Jupiter’s outer moons.
Jupiter/Sun-derived ions are quite different and
distinguishable. to search for the large flux increase of inter-
planetary meteoroids that is expected t o be
Energetic Particles Detector caused by the powerful gravitational field of
Jupiter and t o search for similarly concen-
The energetic particles detector will also help trated interstellar grains.
t o study satellite-derived materials. In the case of t o search for evidence of particles ejected
the weak Saturnian magnetosphere, for example, from, or levitated above, the Galilean moons.
most of the particles measured by Voyager’s
energetic particles detector in the inner portion t o evaluate the relative importance of the
were oxygen ions derived from the satellites. In ad- processes of volcanic ejection, impact-induced
dition t o direct measurement of the satellite- ejection, and electromagnetic removal or levi-
derived materials, shadowing by the satellites will tation of particles from the moons.
reveal the nature and intensity of the bombarding t o measure charges on the particles and to
flux t o which their surfaces are subjected. Informa- understand the charging causes.
tion o n other means of ion loss from the
magnetosphere will elucidate loss fluxes from the t o search for evidence of electrostatic disrup-
satellite sources. The detector measures electrons tion of dust balls in the jovian magnetosphere.
and protons greater than 20 keV and heavier ions
to evaluate dust trajectories within the jovian
greater than 100 keV/nucleon as a function of
magnetosphere.
energy, angle, and particle species.
to correlate the spatial structure of the radia-
Dust Detector tion belts with the dust distribution.
The overall objective of the dust detection in- to evaluate how albedo variations on the jo-
vestigation is the exploration of the physical and vian moons may be caused by variable impact-
dynamic properties of small dust particles in the jo- ing dust populations.
54
Radio Science Studies Jupiter’s ring, which occulted Voyager 1 after the
spacecraft’s exit from atmospheric occultation.
The radio science experiment on Galileo can
While no signal perturbation was detected, these
contribute to understanding of the satellites in two
results helped determine definitive upper limits on
main ways: it can provide (via occultation) infor-
the sizes of the particles in this ring. Several addi-
mation on the structure of tenuous satellite atmos-
tional attempts at detection should be made with
pheres, and it can provide evidence on the internal
Galileo, since the ring characteristics may vary with
structure of the satellites. Also, the radio science time and because the radio technique is quite sensi-
experiment can provide valuable information on
tive and indicative of fundamental ring character-
the plasma population in the ionized torus around istics whenever a signal change can be measured.
Io and its time variation, which may correlate with For example, the Voyager 1 radio occultation by
variations in such parameters as volcanic activity Saturn’s rings showed rich detail throughout and
and heat flow over the duration of the mission. successfully measured the F ring, even though its
normal optical depth (at the radio wavelength) was
Radio Propagation Experiments only about 0.01.
Radio occultations by the Galilean satellites
are possible in principle during the Galileo orbiter’s Celestial Mechanics Experiments
tour and would be important for several investiga-
tions. While it is not expected that any of the Celestial mechanics experiments may be de-
satellites have atmospheres of sufficient density t o scribed in terms of measurements made with the
be measured in this way, at least one has a detect- orbiter itself as it probes gravitational fields in
able ionosphere. The Pioneer 10 occultation ex- Jupiter’s environment. The radio system serves as
periment found a well-developed ionosphere on Io. the sensor for small gravitational perturbations on
There is probably a close connection between the the trajectory, which in turn can be used to infer
ionospheric characteristics, the level and nature of the structure of the gravitational fields of Jupiter
concurrent volcanic emissions from Io, and the and its satellites. Also, we will measure the rela-
density and other features of the Io torus. Addi- tivistic time delay in radio ranging during solar
tional ionospheric measurements will give informa- conjunctions and improve our knowledge of the
tion on the vertical and longitudinal distribution of orbits of Jupiter and the Galilean satellites. Using
neutral species and temporal variations, as well as one-way doppler data, referenced to the space-
the interaction of magnetospheric radiation with craft’s ultrastable oscillator, we will measure the
the neutral species. Such information is needed for general relativistic redshift in the gravitational field
modeling the processes that supply and control Io’s of Jupiter.
atmosphere. No occultation measurements have Perhaps the most significant result of the
been made of the other Galilean satellites, which celestial mechanics experiments will be a measure-
may also have detectable ionospheres, but if they ment of the second-degree harmonics in the gravi-
do, the source is probably different from that of tational fields of Ganymede, Io, and Europa. This
Io. For example, measurable ionospheres might be aspect of the investigation will receive considerable
formed from the dissociation products of water de- emphasis. At least two encounters each with Gany-
rived by sublimation from icy surfaces. The best mede and Europa and one encounter with Io will
chance for a n atmosphere of thermal origin may be make it possible to determine differences in the
on Callisto, the satellite with generally the warmest principal moments of inertia of the satellites with
surface. a n error a n order of magnitude less than the ex-
Radio occultation measurements would also pected size of the differences, at least for Gany-
provide accurate values for the radii of the Galilean mede. With this information we will use the fact
satellites. These results would contribute to the that the satellites respond to comparable perturba-
determination of more precise values for their tions from rotation and tides to discriminate
average densities, which in turn are important to among an assortment of plausible interior models.
theories concerning satellite origin and evolution. We will also be able t o determine the degree of
Additional radio propagation experiments central compression in the satellites and whether
with Galileo will include attempts to detect the satellites are totally differentiated with respect
55
to rock and ice or homogeneous throughout, and unlikely that the resulting equatorial bulge would
in addition obtain information o n chemical com- be detectable over nonhydrostatic contributions to
position and physical states in the interiors. While the gravity field. In fact, the orbital periods are
the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft determined the short enough that this is not necessarily the case.
mass and mean densities of the Galilean satellites Furthermore, the tidal distortion due to Jupiter is
and thereby provided clues to their chemical com- comparable in magnitude to the rotational distor-
position, the Galileo orbiter will approach the tion. Since the rotational and tidal responses are,
satellites at close enough range to discriminate be- t o an excellent approximation, separately excited
tween the total mass of the satellite and higher- and separately measurable, we can deduce the
order terms in the gravitational field. It is these degree of central condensation in the interior of a
higher-order terms that yield detailed information satellite in two independent ways and thus verify
on internal conditions in the satellite. the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. This
The Galileo orbiter will provide improved assumption is expected to hold for a low-density
knowledge of the orbits of Jupiter and the Galilean satellite such as Ganymede, and thus it will be
satellites. The new data from Galileo, which will be possible to use the second-degree harmonics deter-
combined with ground-based data and Voyager mined from the orbiter as important boundary
data, will be limited only by the accuracy of the or- conditions on the interior models.
bit determination of the orbiter. Experience with The Galileo orbiter will be used to determine
similar analyses on Mars orbiters and Mercury fly- the zero-order gravitational moment (mass) of the
bys indicates that the reduced-range data to the four Galilean satellites, or actually the product of
center of mass of Jupiter or a satellite during a the gravitational constant and the mass gravita-
close flyby can be determined to about 150 meters. tional moment. In addition, because of the planned
Such data are important to an overall program to close approaches of the orbiter to the surfaces of
improve knowledge of the orbital motions of the the satellites, it will be possible to determine the
entire solar system for experimental relativity. In next significant higher gravitational moments as
addition, new orbital data on the Galilean satellites well, namely, the product of G with differences in
will yield information on the orbital energy distri- the principal moments of inertia of the satellites,
bution among these satellites and on some of the G(B - A) and G[C- (A + B)/2]. Past missions to
dynamic forcing terms, which are important for Jupiter have been sensitive only t o the mass, so
understanding the orbital evolution of the satellites Galileo will provide the first measurements of these
since their formation. Galileo will establish tighter principal moment differences to an accuracy of
observational bounds on the secular acceleration of better than lo6 km5/s2, and as a result information
Io’s mean orbital motion, which in turn can be used will be obtained on the internal structure and com-
t o deduce the character of the heat flow from Io by position of the satellites. For example, the expected
tidal heating. Current observational bounds leave size of these higher-order gravitational moments
some question as t o whether Io is constantly in a varies from about 5 x 106 to 3 x lo7 km5/s2 for
state of high activity, as evidenced by the Voyager Ganymede, depending on the degree of differentia-
observations of volcanism, or whether such activity tion of rock and ices in the deep interior. The ex-
is episodic. pected range of values can be predicted based on
The degree of internal differentiation of the the known response of a satellite to its own rota-
four Galilean satellites is an important clue to their tion and to the distortions of the body of the
interior composition and also provides a clue to the satellite by tides raised by Jupiter. In the absence of
abundance of radionuclide, tidal heating, and ac- these two forces the satellite would be spherical, no
cretional heating contributions; mechanisms of matter what the nature of its internal structure, and
heat transport; and the general history of planetary only the mass would be needed to define its gravita-
energetics. By measuring the response of a rotating tional field. However, because of the rotational
planet to its centrifugal potential, we can deduce and tidal distortions, the gravitational field
information about its degree of central condensa- deviates from a spherical shape, and as a result
tion, when hydrostatic equilibrium is assumed. Be- subtle disturbances are set up in the flyby orbit
cause the Galilean satellites all rotate synchronous- which can be interpreted in terms of the principal
ly with their orbital period, it would at first seem moment differences defined above. The measured
56
magnitude of the moment differences then yields
the internal structure of the satellite by means of
physical models generated by computer simulation.
“r
The expected range of the principal moment
differences, expressed in terms of what will actually
be measured by means of disturbances in the orbit
of the Galileo orbiter during the flyby, for Gany-
mede are illustrated in figure 36 along with a series
of curves showing the expected accuracy of the
measurement as a function of the two most import-
ant flyby parameters, the radius of closest ap-
proach to the center of the satellite and the flyby
velocity. Actually, for a given satellite tour, we
have very little control over the flyby velocity, so
the important design parameter is the flyby
distance, although t o a lesser extent the viewing
angle of the flyby as viewed from Earth and the in-
clination of the flyby orbit to the equator of the
satellite are also important. In general, a near-polar
orbit will determine one component of the gravita-
tional field, G[C - (A + B)/2], while a near-equa- I I I I
103 4 1 o4 4 105 4
torial orbit will determine the other component,
G(B-A); thus, the determination of both com- Radius of closest approach (km)
ponents requires at least two flybys of the satellite.
?igure 36. Measurement errors for different flyby
As indicated in figure 36, it is possible to per- parameters at Ganymede. The errors are
form a very significant gravity experiment on assumed to be the same for both zonal
Ganymede with the Galileo mission. The error and longitudinal harmonics. Horizontal
curves are essentially the same for all the Galilean lines show maximum and minimum
satellites, but the size of the expected coefficients predicted values for hydrostatic equi-
varies with rotation and orbital distance for each librium.
satellite. For Io it is possible to perform an in-
teresting gravity experiment, but only one flyby of
Io is planned, a near-equatorial pass before the or-
bit insertion phase of the mission. Fortunately, if rotational and tidal distortions of Io should so
only one flyby is available, it is far better to have an completely dominate its figure and gravitational
equatorial pass than a polar pass, in which a clear field that nonhydrostatic behavior should not pre-
separation of the rotational and tidal distortion is sent a problem. For Europa there is a possibility
impossible. Therefore, we expect to obtain impor- that we will measure only nonhydrostatic com-
tant information from the Io flyby, although not ponents and that little information will be obtained
of the high quality expected from Ganymede, for on the interior. In this case, the value of the
which we will have at least one equatorial and one measurement will lie in its ability to provide infor-
near-polar pass. mation on the magnitude of stresses in the surface
Finally, we must deal with the question of layers of Europa. The two outer satellites,
possible departures from hydrostatic equilibrium. Ganymede and Callisto, are expected t o be close t o
A principal diagnostic factor of nonhydrostatic hydrostatic equilibrium because of their high ice
behavior is an inconsistency between the separately content ana iiquia interiors.
determined values of gravity moments or values of In summary, the Galileo flybys of Io and
these quantities that lie completely outside the Ganymede should provide effective probes of their
plausible range. Based on the size of known interior structures. The flybys of Europa may pro-
nonhydrostatic moments for the Moon, the large vide similar information about that satellite, or
57
they may provide measurements of nonhydrostatic spherical to the flyby trajectory, and a determina-
components in the gravity field. For Callisto, tion of interior conditions is doubtful. The flybys
because of its greater distance from Jupiter, the of Callisto primarily provide a test for gross de-
gravitational field should appear essentially partures from hydrostatic equilibrium.
58
chap~er4THE MAGNETOSPHERE
Data gathered during the early flybys of the heavy ions, such as S and SOz+,is evident in the
+
Pioneer spacecraft indicated that there are three later Voyager measurements. With the assumption
main regions of the jovian magnetosphere (fig. 37). that the primary ions were protons, the corre-
The magnetic field of Jupiter dominates the inner sponding densities ranged from about 100/cm3 at 3
magnetosphere, a region extending to about 20 R, to l/cm3 at 14 R,. The thickness of the plasma
59
What Is a Magnetosphere?
When the supersonic ionized gases flowing outward from the Sun (the
solar wind) arrive at the vicinity of the planets in the solar system, various
types of interactions are possible, depending on the strength and orienta-
tion of a planet’s magnetic field and its rotation rate. If the planet has a
sufficiently large magnetic field, it forms a cavity in the solar wind. The
region inside this cavity is dominated by the planet’s environment, its
magnetic field, and a swarm of energetic particles and gases. The low-
energy ions, protons, and electrons are called plasma. This region is called
the magnetosphere, and the boundary between the magnetosphere and the
solar wind is the magnetopause. A bow shock is necessarily formed in the
solar wind upstream from the magnetopause. A low-energy plasma, large-
ly concentrated within a few planetary radii of the equatorial plane, is
distributed throughout the magnetosphere, thus forming a plasma sheet
through which concentrated electric currents flow (the current sheet). In
the direction away from the Sun the magnetosphere is drawn out in a long
magnetotail by the drag of the solar wind. At Jupiter the plasma within the
magnetosphere tends to rotate along with the rotating magnetic field of
Jupiter. If it rotates at the same speed it is referred t o as rigid corotation.
Processes within the magnetosphere cause the plasma to rotate at less than
rigid corotation speeds in some regions.
sheet at 15 R, is about 2 R,. The calculated tem- with the plasma instrument to jovicentric radial
peratures are 100 to 400 eV. The Pioneer plasma distances of 40 R,. However, at the larger distances
analyzers detected a moderate maximum of ion the corotation of the plasmas is sufficient t o give
densities near the Io flux tube at radial distances of the ions kinetic energies above the energy range of
5.9 to 6.5 R, at the magnetic equator. the plasma instrument, which is 6 keV. The energy
Observations with the plasma and medium- of a rigidly corotating 0’ ion at 30 R, is 10 keV.
energy charged particle instruments on the Measurements with the medium-‘energy particle
Voyagers provided further insight into the nature detector, which has an energy threshold of 30 keV,
of the jovian magnetospheric plasmas. Heavy ions show that the heavy ion populations extend t o the
from the volcanic eruptions on Io were found to be magnetopause near the magnetic equator.
the dominant constituents of the great torus of The maximum densities of thermal ions in the
plasmas in the inner magnetosphere. For example, jovian magnetosphere are located near the Io orbit.
the principal heavy ions detected by Voyager 1 at These densities are 3000/cm3. Densities decrease
5.3 R j near the magnetic equator are S + (69 per- rapidly with increasing radial distances to values of
cent), 0 + ( 2 1 percent), S2+ (2.4 percent), and 02+ 1 to 10/cm3 at radial distances of 10 to 20 R,.
(1.5 percent). Identification of these ion species is Beyond these radial distances and in the plasma
possible due to the high speed of corotation relative sheet the ion densities range from 10-3 to l/cm3.
t o ion thermal speeds (random motions due to the Above or below the plasma sheet the densities are
ion’s energy in the field compared to its motion as low as 10-5 to 104/cm3.
with the field). At increasing radial distances, iden- There is a large gradient in the ion
tification of ions becomes more difficult and temperatures on the planet side of the torus near
uncertain as the ion temperature increases, and the Io orbit. The ion temperature decreases rapidly
clear maxima in ion intensities as functions of from 40 eV at 6 R, to 1 eV at 5 R,. For the bulk of
energy are not detected. Heavy ions are observed the plasma torus at 6 to 8 R, the ion temperatures
60
Perturbation
Dipole field
Resultant
field
/ Dipole model
Tilt = 10.77
insertion Offset = 0 1 RJ
region
rt.ylul I
( 1 RJ = 71 400krnl
and cold. The cold electron temperatures are 10 to
100 eV over the radial distance range of 6 to 40 R,
near the magnetic equator. At the inner edge of the Figure 38. There are complex and dynamic interac-
torus, these electron temperatures decrease tions among the solar wind, the
precipitously t o 0.5 eV, coincident with the magnetosphere, the planet’s magnetic
field, the Galilean satellites, and other in-
decrease in ion temperatures noted above. The hot ner satellites.
component of the electron velocity distribiition i q
generally less dense than the cold component. For
example, the density of the hot component at 8 R, temperatures of electrons and ions in the plasma
is 1 percent of the total number density and in- sheet are cooler relative to those detected above
creases to 50 percent at 40 R,. The characteristic and below the plasma sheet.
temperature of these hot electrons is 1 keV. The The plasmas are observed t o corotate rigidly
61
with Jupiter to radial distances of about 20 R,. At and iron probably originate from the solar wind.
distances of 20 to 40 R, the corotation speed is Closer to Jupiter, the ions of sulfur, sodium, and
significantly less than that expected from rigid co- oxygen probably originate from Io and its plasma
rotation by factors of 2 or less. At radial distances torus. Energetic molecular hydrogen, H2 and H3,
exceeding 40 R, the plasmas are again observed to also has been found in the jovian magnetosphere.
rigidly corotate occasionally, as inferred from The energetic H 3 is most likely of ionospheric
measurements with Voyager’s medium-energy par- origin, while the H z may come from the ionosphere
ticle detector. However, flow speeds at these larger and possibly from the moons. Comparison of data
radial distances are less than the rigid corotation obtained by the flybys of the two Voyager
speeds by factors of 10 or less at other times. spacecraft indicates that the ion population in the
Beyond radial distances of 130 R, in the dawn side magnetosphere varies considerably with time.
of the jovian magnetosphere the ion flows become Beyond 10 Jupiter radii, the pressure of the
directed generally anti-Sunward, with a strong flow energetic ion particles exceeds that of the magnetic
along directions that are radially outward from the field. Thus, the energetic ions play an important
planet. This phenomenon is called the magneto- role in determining the dynamics of the jovian
spheric wind. At the lesser radial distances of Io’s magnetosphere. The presence of a large particle
orbit, Voyager’s plasma instrument detected a per- pressure at the jovian magnetopause is completely
turbation in the direction of bulk flow from that different from conditions at Earth, where the
corresponding to rigid corotation as the spacecraft magnetic pressure is the important force balancing
passed near the Io magnetic flux tube. Magnetic the solar wind. Interaction with the solar wind is
field measurements also indicate the presence of a thus very different at Jupiter than at Earth.
strong, magnetically field-aligned current. Io affects the environment of Jupiter in ways
Observations during the Pioneer flybys of other than its gravitational pressure in the jovian
Jupiter revealed t h a t the giant planet’s system. Before spacecraft flew by the giant planet,
magnetosphere (fig. 39) is an extensive and highly Io was known to affect radio emissions from
dynamic reservoir of charged particles. The Jupiter and to possess a sodium cloud that moved
Pioneer results also provided valuable insights into around Jupiter in the vicinity of this satellite.
several physical phenomena operating in the Later, a torus of plasma encircling Io was found
magnetosphere of Jupiter, such as interactions (fig. 40) in which there are ionized atoms of sulfur
between electromagnetic waves and energetic par- and oxygen. These ions are believed to be
ticles (wave - particle interactions) and radial associated with the volcanic eruptions on Io.
diffusion of these charged particles. The Voyager Temperatures of these ions reach 60 000 K - ten
mission to Jupiter confirmed the Pioneer results, times that at the surface of the Sun. How the com-
and Voyager’s much improved instrumentation t o position and number of ions in this torus vary with
detect and measure energetic ions yielded fun- time is still unknown. Observations from Voyager
damental advances in knowledge of this dynamic show that Io’s volcanoes are probably a source of
magnetosphere. There are unusually large numbers sulfur dioxide. This gas escapes into space, where it
of oxygen and sulfur ions in the magnetosphere, becomes dissociated into sulfur and oxygen and
with comparatively few carbon ions and a small ionizes t o form the ring-like cloud of neutral and
number of sodium ions. Both sodium and sulfur ionized gases along Io’s orbit. As Jupiter spins, its
abundances are much greater in comparison to magnetic field also spins, pulling the charged par-
their relative abundance in the spectrum of the ticles along with it. If they reach the same spin rate
solar wind ions flowing outward from the Sun, as Jupiter, they become corotating, and the speed
showing that many of the particles in the jovian of corotation increases with increasing distance
magnetosphere are supplied by the satellites, par- from the planet. Jupiter thus accelerates the ions to
ticularly Io. high velocities, and the major energy input to the
Three different ion sources have been iden- Io torus comes from Jupiter’s rotational energy.
tified for the magnetospheric plasma: the Sun, the Evidence from Pioneer and Voyager suggests
jovian ionosphere, and the large jovian satellites. substantial variations of the torus density with time
In the outer magnetosphere the ions of helium, car- that may be related to the level of volcanic activity
bon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, manganese, silicon, on Io.
62
The combined observed energy dissipation due magnetic field could not supply sufficient energy t o
to ultraviolet radiation from the torus, from the ions.
aurorae on Jupiter, and from the magnetospheric The Voyager spacecraft provided an initial
wind appears t o be greater than can be supplied by survey of the plasma wave and radio emissions
rotational energy transferred into the Io torus.
Where the additional energy comes from is a puz-
zle. If energy transfer occurs over a greater volume lo's orbit
than the torus, then these regions must rotate more North / Jupiter
slowly than the corotation rate. Otherwise, the
Flux
tube
63
from this plasma torus. At the inner edge of the magnetosphere that remain unanswered. The se-
torus, Voyager 1 detected plasma wave emissions quence of movie frames in figure 42 depicts some
known as whistler-mode auroral hiss emissions. In of the dynamics in the magnetosphere.
Earth’s magnetosphere these emissions are normal- The Io torus, shown to scale in yellow, is
ly found only in association with low-energy (100 centered about the orbit of Io and is essentially a
eV to 10 keV) electron beams and field-aligned cur- plasma composed of electrons and oxygen and
rents in the auroral regions. The implication of the sulfur ions that have been spewed off from Io and
observations at Jupiter is that similar electron trapped by Jupiter’s magnetosphere (fig. 42a). The
beams and field-aligned current systems must be torus corotates with Jupiter at a speed of approx-
present a t the inner edge of the plasma torus. Such imately 60 km/s relative to Io. The plane of the
beams and current systems would have significance torus is tilted with respect to the jovian ecliptic
for our understanding of the transfer of energy be- (and the orbit of Io) due to the effect of Jupiter’s
tween the plasma torus and the jovian ionosphere magnetic field on the plasma. This view of the
and the occurrence of aurora where the jovian torus is along an axis perpendicular to Jupiter’s
magnetic field lines that pass through Io intersect rotational axis. The two arrows protruding
the jovian atmosphere (fig. 41). The jovian through Jupiter are Jupiter’s rotational and
decametric (wavelengths between 1 and 10 dm) magnetic axes, the latter being tilted and offset
radio emissions are believed to be generated along from Jupiter’s rotational axis. The three white
the Io L shell* at a radial distance at which the elec- elliptical lines surrounding Jupiter and the torus
tron gyrofrequency is equal to the wave frequency. are the orbits of the outer three Galilean satellites,
It is important t o be able t o confirm this by making Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The orbit of Io
direction-finding measurements from an orbiting can be seen faintly within the torus. The radial con-
spacecraft within the jovian system. More puzzling tours within the torus represent observed density
is a complex decametric arc structure for which no gradients (in intervals of 500 cm-3), with the
single theory has yet received broad acceptance. densest portion (approximately 2500 cm 3) toward
~
Both the Pioneer and the Voyager spacecraft the center of the torus. Note that this is a simula-
made measurements in the innermost region of the tion and that in reality there is no “sharp
jovian magnetosphere within 4 Jupiter radii above boundary” between the torus and the rest of the
the cloud tops. The most prominent findings were magnetosphere. However, the plasma density does
those of the very close encounter of Pioneer 11 at drop rapidly at the boundaries shown.
1.6 planetary radii. Increase in particle flux with Highlighted by green “dashes” is an or-
decreasing distance from the planet is not thogonal view of the “warped” jovian plasma sheet
monotonic but instead has a more complex “shell- (shown roughly to scale). The plasma sheet (fig.
like” structure that depends on the energy and 42b) is a relatively dense, cold plasma within
species of the particle. The interpretation is that Jupiter’s magnetosphere, confined to approximate-
particles diffusing inward are absorbed by solid ly ? 2 to 5 R, from the magnetic equator. As with
materials, such as the dust particles in the jovian the I o torus, the boundaries of the plasma sheet
ring. Similar absorption of energetic charged par- are, in reality, not sharp. The matter in the plasma
ticles by the satellites, also known as “sweeping,” at sheet is largely supplied by plasma from the Io
larger radial distances has been observed by the torus, although the density of the plasma sheet is
Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft. lower by factors of 100 to 1000 than that of the
Despite the many exciting discoveries by torus. The plasma sheet differentially rotates with
Pioneer and Voyager about the environment of Jupiter’s magnetic field and is tilted and warped
Jupiter, there are important questions about major with respect to both the jovigraphic and the jovian
physical processes observed in the jovian magnetic equatorial planes. The plasma sheet is
sometimes called the jovian plasma disk, and is
geometrically congruous to, and nearly coincident
with, the jovian current sheet, a thick region of
*Current theory supposes a series of “shells” in Jupiter’s
magnetosphere. The shells are three-dimensional surfaces
electrical current that (differentially) rotates with
defined by a given magnetic field intensity and are labeled Jupiter. The jovian current sheet produces a
moving outward from Jupiter’s equator. magnetic field throughout the magnetosphere that
64
ORIGINAL PAQE
COLOR PPqTOGRAPH
f-12 1 keV
(kHz1
Frequency 1 ' ! .i t
I Ic 1 0 keV
Resonant
electron
energy
Voyager 1
March 5, 1979
Jupiter
lo
plasma
tONS
66
~
ORIGINAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
dramatically distorts the otherwise nearly dipole Figure 42d depicts a numerical simulation of
jovian magnetic field. an energetic ion (shown in red) spiraling around
Figure 42c presents a global view of Jupiter’s Jupiter’s magnetic field lines near the orbit of Io.
magnetosphere, from a model generated by R. J. The simulation was performed by J. G. Luhmann,
Walker, University of California at Los Angeles. University of California at Los Angeles. The mo-
The blue lines represent the magnetic field lines of tion of the ion is traced as it reflects from Jupiter’s
Jupiter, swept back by the action of the solar wind, magnetic poles.
a hot, ionized gas (plasma) flowing radially out- Figures 42e and f present two views of the
ward from the Sun. The apparent parabola-shaped solar wind interaction with Jupiter’s magneto-
boundary of the magnetosphere is called the mag- sphere. The solar wind (shown in yellow) blows
netopause. The space inside of the magnetopause is outward from the Sun at approximately 400 km/s.
dominated by Jupiter’s magnetic field. Although in Jupiter’s magnetic field acts as an obstacle to the
this view some of Jupiter’s magnetic field lines ap- (supersonically flowing) solar wind, and a
pear t o terminate, this is an artifact of the com- shockwave called the “bow shock” is formed
puter simulation. In reality they either close upon upstream of the magnetosphere. The bow shock
themselves or connect with the solar wind magnetic can be seen here as a parabolic curve in the solar
field (not shown). wind. The magnetic field lines are distorted and
swept back by the solar wind. The field lines shown Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Jupiter’s
unconnected here actually connect with the magnetosphere is of special interest because it is the
downstream solar wind. This picture is from a largest single object within the solar system and the
numerical simulation performed by J . G . rapid rotation of Jupiter gives rise to a
Luhmann using a modified gas dynamic solar magnetosphere that is part way between that of
wind - magnetosphere model developed by J. R. Earth and a pulsar. For Earth and Jupiter (fig. 43),
Spreiter and others in the 1960s and 1970s. which have relatively strong magnetic fields that in-
teract with the magnetic field carried by the solar
wind, the magnetic field acts as an obstacle and
Anticipated Results produces a shock wave much farther from the
planet than in the case of bodies such as the Moon
For nearly a quarter of a century scientists and Venus, which have negligible intrinsic
have been able to use instruments carried by magnetic fields.
spacecraft to study the properties of Earth’s The advantages of the Galileo mission for in-
magnetosphere. More recently, they have also been vestigations of magnetic and electric fields and of
able to study by spacecraft the magnetospheres of charged particles in the jovian magnetosphere are
all the planets known t o the ancients - Mercury, the spinning section of the spacecraft, a flexible
68
ORIGINAL’ PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
command system, and a series of orbits that allows important plasma regions and their temporal
close flybys of the Galilean satellites, a survey of responses to Iogenic and solar wind plasmas.
the jovian magnetotail, and a subsequent local- The Pioneer and Voyager missions provided
time survey of the magnetosphere. The spinning brief glimpses of a structurally complex and time-
section of the spacecraft gives the important varying j ovian magnetosphere. Major features of
capability for a suitably designed instrument to this magnetosphere were identified, as summarized
view all angles for particle velocity vectors at the in figure 44. The dense plasma torus is centered
satellite position. The command system provides around Io’s orbit and has a thickness equivalent to
the opportunity t o tailor the operation of the in- about 2 Jupiter radii. The disk-like structure, a
struments for the most effective measurements in plasma disk or plasma sheet, extends from the
each of the diverse plasma regimes of the outer boundary of the Io torus. The detailed struc-
magnetosphere and its environs, for example, tures and temporal behaviors of both the torus and
magnetosheath, plasma sheet, satellite wake or flux plasma disk are currently unknown. The regions of
tube, or magnetotail wind. Targeted encounters the magnetosphere t o be surveyed by the Galileo
with the satellites and a tour of the magnetotail orbiter during the initial orbit and the tail petal or-
during a sustained mission of over a year offer ex- bit are shown in figure 45. In addition, a specially
ceptional opportunities for studies of most of the designed sensor for energetic particles is carried on
69
the Galileo probe t o clarify the features of the ex- magnetosphere. Thus, the formation and dynamics
tremely high radiation levels at altitudes less than 3 of the plasma sheet, or disk, can be understood.
jovian radii above the planet’s atmosphere. The substantial periods of time that the
As the Galileo spacecraft crosses the plasma Galileo spacecraft will spend in the area of the
sheet in the middle and outer magnetosphere, the plasma sheet offer the unique opportunity to view
magnitudes of field-aligned and cross-field cur- the responses of the jovian magnetosphere t o the
rents will be determined. Their values and location time-variable source of Iogenic plasmas. If specific
will be correlated with the position of the current I o volcanic eruptions can be identified with tem-
sheet as found with the magnetometer. The mo- poral fluctuations in densities, composition, and
tions of the plasma sheet will be directly deter- motions of the plasma sheet, we will make
mined from the three-dimensional flow vector, and remarkable advances in our knowledge of the
the azimuthal component will be separated from transport of mass and momentum in the jovian
the radial outflow or inflow component. Angular magnetosphere.
distributions and ion compositions will be exam- The Voyager spacecraft provided an initial
ined t o discern the contributions of electrons and survey of plasma wave and radio emission
ions from the ionosphere, solar wind via the mag- phenomena in the jovian magnetosphere. Galileo
netosheath, and the large satellites in the inner will provide further details, relating particularly to
70
the free energy source for the particle wave in- broadband electrostatic noise can be compared
volved and long-term variations. Figure 46 shows with plasma velocity distributions t o determine the
the various types of plasma waves and radio emis- importance of anomalous resistivity in plasma
sions detected by the two Voyager spacecraft and heating. Free energy sources, for example, ring
where these occur. distributions in the electron distribution function,
Simultaneous observations of three-dimen- for the generation of intense electrostatic waves
sional particle velocity distributions and plasma near the upper hybrid resonance frequency are
waves with the Galileo spacecraft allow the first identified and related to the wave amplitudes
studies of wave-particle interactions in the wide- observed with the plasma wave instrument. In
ranging types of plasmas in the jovian general, the direct measurement of the plasma den-
magnetosphere. For example, the velocity distribu- sity and other parameters gives the propagation
tions of ions can be examined to determine whether and resonance conditions for plasma waves in
resonant acceleration by ion cyclotron waves is an wave-particle interactions. Thus, the mechanisms
important mechanism for ion heating in the torus for providing Jupiter with intense radio sources
and plasma sheet. Furthermore, the amplitudes of can be understood.
Of the plasma waves that occur in the inner
regions of the magnetosphere, the main questions
that remain have to d o with the mechanism by
which the waves are produced. For example, elec-
trostatic cyclotron waves occur near the equatorial
plane in and near the Io plasma torus. For a full
understanding of the plasma instability responsible
for these waves, complete measurements of the
three-dimensional electron velocity function must
be obtained. Such measurements will be available
for the first time from the Galileo plasma instru-
ment.
Galileo will also study whistler mode auroral
hiss emissions, as discussed earlier.
In addition to locally generated plasma waves,
‘ Earth
several distinct types of radio emissions were iden-
tified by the Voyager spacecraft. These emissions
come from the inner region of the magnetosphere.
They include decametric radiation known to be
associated with Io and two types of kilometric
radiation’(br0adband and narrowband) apparently
associated with the Io plasma torus. Although the
general spectral characteristics of this kilometric
radiation are reasonably well known, considerable
uncertainty exists regarding the exact region in
which the emissions are generated. Because the
Voyager radio astronomy measurements did not
include a direction-finding capability, source posi-
tions can be inferred only indirectly from ray-
tracing models. With Galileo, source positions will
be obtained directly from direction-finding
JuDiter measurements that uti!ize the spin medu!atien cf
Figure 43. Comparisons of the magnetospheres of signals received by the electric dipole antenna on
Earth and Jupiter. The terrestrial the end of the spun section’s magnetometer boom.
magnetosphere is shown at a scale about The jovian decametric radiation is generally
55 times that of the jovian magneto- believed t o be generated along the Io L shell at a
sphere. radial distance at which the electron gyrofrequency
71
CRIGINA?. FAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
I Plasma
surface
I boun
\
t plasma
I
Figure 44. The jovian magnetosphere showing some
of its major regions and relationship with
the solar wind.
is equal to the wave frequency. The general loca- periods when Galileo is near the apojove of its
tion of the source for decametric radiation is in- elliptical orbits. It is clear from both ground-based
dicated in figure 47. Although it is unlikely that and Voyager observations that large changes in in-
this basic hypothesis is wrong, the relationship tensity take place in the radio emissions from
could be verified by direction-finding measure- Jupiter over times ranging from a few hours t o
ments. More puzzling is the complex decametric several months. At the present time the exact
arc structure discovered by Voyager. At present, reasons for these temporal changes are not
no single theory for the multiplicity of the understood. However, as knowledge of the
decametric arc structure of the radio emissions has mechanisms responsible for the jovian emissions
received broad acceptance. Possible explanations increases, it is believed that the spectrum and inten-
include interference effects produced by multiple sity of the radio emissions can be used t o monitor
ray paths from a single source, unusual magnetic remotely the dynamic processes occurring in the jo-
structure at the foot of the I o L shell, and multiple vian magnetosphere. At Earth, for example, in-
reflections of electromagnetic waves excited by Io. tense radio emissions at kilometric wavelengths are
Direction-finding measurements by Galileo should closely correlated with discrete auroral arcs and
allow us to find the correct explanation by pro- charged particle precipitation at high latitudes. The
viding information on the relative direction of ar- terrestrial kilometric radio emissions are therefore
rival of the individual arc elements. a useful remote indicator of global auroral activity.
Galileo will provide a n opportunity t o use At Jupiter, the radio emissions can be expected to
radio emissions as a remote sensing tool t o monitor provide a similar remote monitor of temporal
changes in the inner magnetosphere during the long changes in the inner regions of the magnetosphere,
72
Magnetospheric
Escaping continuum
f" 10
r_
> 20
C
a,
30
E
LL
40
0200 0400 0600 0800 1000
Decametric
lo
plasma
torus
Alfvdn waves
the magnetic field strength in the plasma is quite found. Such measurements give the rate of mass
strong. This situation is in sharp contrast to the in- loss from each satellite. Perturbations of the
teraction of the solar wind with the planets. plasma flow can be identified in terms of the con-
As the charged particles corotate with the ductivity of the satellite, for example, flow around
magnetosphere, they sweep past the Galilean a conducting cylinder. During the closest satellite
satellites, and “wakes” are created in front of the
satellites. By examining the ion velocity distribu-
tions in the wakes, we can determine the
mechanism for ion loss from these bodies. The ef-
i
fectiveness of ion pick-up by the magnetospheric
plasma flow is derived from the signatures in the
AIfvCn
wing
orbit Path
I
L7 \- I
Figure 48. Typical interaction between a satellite Figure 50. Magnetic field in the vicinity of an ic)
and the magnetosphere showing the loca- Galilean satellite that is assumed to be ar
tion of the flux tube and the leading unmagnetized conductor, as viewed from
wake. the “leading-trailing”meridian.
75
encounters it is possible that a magnetopause or
ionopause may be detected, thus providing further
information concerning the magnetic and at-
mospheric properties of that body. If the flyby of
the satellite is polar, strong field-aligned currents
to and away from the jovian ionosphere, especially
in the case of Io, can be expected. Also possible is
field-aligned acceleration of ions and electrons by
electrostatic double layers or anomalous resistivity.
The relative contributions of the ions in the plasma
torus and sheet from the various Galilean satellites
will be assessed during the encounters.
The Galileo flyby of Io will also uniquely com-
plement Voyager’s flyby of that satellite by passing
20 times closer, thereby giving an improved deter-
mination of the intrinsic magnetic field, and cross-
ing through the wake near the equatorial plane in-
stead of through the flux tube. Because Io is known
to have a very strong interaction with the jovian Figure 51. I f the corotating energy exceeds the
magnetosphere, accounting for a power input of magnetic energy density, Alfven waves
about 10l2 W, the Galileo flyby of the satellite are set up.
should add significantly to our understanding of
this interaction.
To determine unambiguously the interactions Galileo mission. The origins of this wind are
of the Galilean satellites with the jovian magneto- unknown. It is possible that the magnetotail wind
sphere, it is necessary to pass above the polar caps develops at an Alfven point (fig. 51), where the
and also through the equatorial wakes of these corotational energy exceeds the magnetic energy
bodies. For example, the polar cap flybys will be density. Thus, magnetic bubbles could be slung
used to search for field-aligned currents to the radially outward into the magnetotail. The low
ionosphere, and the wake intercepts will be pressures in the magnetotail would produce high-
employed for identification of mass losses and for speed radial outflow. On the other hand, the
the most sensitive determination of intrinsic outflow wind might be thermally powered by the
magnetic moment. Thus, multiple close flybys of hot plasmas in the plasma sheet inside the Alfven
the Galilean satellites are a firm requirement for point. A third possibility is that the magneto-
decisive studies of the interaction of these bodies spheric wind is the signature of reconnection of
with the magnetospheric plasmas. The interaction magnetotail field lines with the magnetic fields of
of each satellite with Jupiter’s magnetic field is ex- the solar wind in a convection pattern controlled by
pected t o be different due to the wide range of the day side magnetic merging rates. Indeed, the re-
surface and atmospheric properties, ambient sponses of the magnetotail to fluctuating internal
magnetospheric plasmas, intrinsic magnetic plasmas, such as Iogenic plasmas, or to varying
moments, and conductivities. The Galileo mission solar winds are unknown. Is the magnetotail char-
offers a unique opportunity to study the interac- acterized by spectacular, explosive activity or a
tion of planetary objects with magnetized plasmas. mere quiescent outflow of plasmas? The explora-
Voyager sensed the presence of Jupiter’s tory petal orbit into the magnetotail will answer
magnetotail at Saturn. The existence of the many questions concerning the origins and dynam-
magnetotail wind at radial distances beyond 130 R, ics of this immense and little understood plasma
offers a n exciting goal for the tail petal orbit of the region.
76
chapter5MISSION DESIGN
The Galileo spacecraft will be launched in feasible for the 1986 launch opportunity due to
May 1986 on a direct Earth to Jupiter trajectory. Jupiter's position relative to Earth and the
Many factors influence the events of the mission, capabilities of current launch vehicles.
and careful planning is required t o ensure success For the 1986 launch opportunity, the
at each stage. minimum launch energy (C3) for type I trajectories
Mission design is the process of developing an (transfer angle less than 180") is about 84 km2/s2
operational strategy for the mission that will max- (fig. 54). The minimum C3 for type I1 trajectories
imize the science return within the constraints and (transfer angle greater than 180") is only about 81
limitations imposed by the laws of nature and the km2/s2, but the time of flight for type I1 trajec-
demands of management. Major variables that in- tories is almost one and a half years longer. Based
fluence the mission return are the design and selec- on current specifications of Centaur performance
tion of the spacecraft flight path and high-level se- and Galileo spacecraft mass, the maximum C3
quence planning. To permit flexibility in these capability available is 80 km2/s2. Therefore,
areas, requirements are levied on spacecraft design, ballistic trajectories are not possible for the Galileo
launch vehicle capabilities, ground data system mission in 1986.
capabilities, and tracking and telemetry coverage. In figure 54, the "ridge" between the type I and
Mission design constraints imposed by project type I1 minima occurs because Jupiter does not lie
management generally relate t o fiscal limitations or in the ecliptic plane. The ballistic solution to the
to safe and reliable operation of the spacecraft. Lambert problem for a transfer angle near 180" has
Nature's constraints pertain to orbital and celestial a large heliocentric inclination. The ridge is
mechanics that control the set of flight paths and therefore the region of launch/arrival date com-
corresponding geometries available to mission binations that have a near-180" transfer. The high
design. C3 values on the ridge are due to this large
The May 1986 launch will utilize a broken- heliocentric inclination. In contrast, the high C3
Witharriva:
irzjeeciory, at Jupiteriii ye: y g .rnl.-oo
vaium
Cn-
ivi
lnto
m c b
1 r . n . n n h /om-lxr
m u 1 1 b 1 1 1 bu"y
r.--i.~ol
u ~ l i v
onA
u U I ~A U
aovlxr
~ U L L J
(fig. 52). Several months after launch, a plane launch/late arrival combinations are due to the
change maneuver will be required to transfer the high heliocentric energy requirements of near-
spacecraft to a higher heliocentric orbit (fig. 53). ecliptic transfers on those dates.
Although a ballistic trajectory would be the ideal, The theoretical minimum energy transfer to
low-energy flight path, such a trajectory is not Jupiter could occur if Jupiter were in the ecliptic
77
plane. In this case, a perihelion to aphelion finds the optimal plane (not necessarily the ecliptic)
(Hohmann) transfer would be possible. It would from which to perform the minimum plane change
have a 180’ transfer in the ecliptic plane, with a necessary to intersect the out-of-the-ecliptic posi-
transfer time of about two years and nine months tion of Jupiter. For a higher available launch
and a C3 of about 78 km2/s2. Introduction of a energy, more of the plane change can be done at
broken-plane maneuver on trajectories with launch, resulting in a smaller broken-plane
near-180” transfer angles allows the launch C3 to maneuver.
be used primarily for achieving the heliocentric As a specific example to illustrate the broken-
energy necessary to reach Jupiter’s distance from plane effect, consider the trajectory with a May 21,
the Sun (as with a Hohmann transfer). The broken- 1986, launch date and an arrival date at Jupiter of
plane maneuver primarily changes the heliocentric August 27, 1988. The characteristics for the
inclination and node at the most efficient place. ballistic and optimal broken-plane trajectories are
Ballistic and broken-plane trajectories are summarized in table 4.
shown schematically in figure 53. The first segment Some of the trajectories in figure 54 that are
of the broken-plane trajectory lies in the ecliptic, not near-180” transfers can also be utilized subject
and the second segment has the inclination to a maximum C3 constraint. In this case the
necessary to reach Jupiter. If the maneuver were ballistic trajectory is essentially matched by per-
done at a point 90” from Jupiter, the inclination forming a maneuver as soon after launch as opera-
would equal Jupiter’s declination at arrival. tional considerations will allow. In effect, this
However, since the velocity is decreasing outward maneuver uses the spacecraft propellant system as
on the trajectory, the change in velocity (AV) re- an additional upper stage on the launch vehicle.
quired for an inclination change performed closer These “energy augmentation” maneuvers become
to Jupiter is lower even though the resulting in- larger as the distance of a given trajectory from the
clination change is greater. ridge increases. For a C3 capability less than the
The characteristics of an optimal broken- ballistic C3 minimum, all trajectories will require a
plane trajectory are somewhat more complicated maneuver of either the broken-plane type or the
than this simplified model. Given the maximum energy-augmentation type. For a C3 capability
available energy, the trajectory design process greater than the ballistic minimum, there exists a
Figure 52. Galileo 1986 Earth to Jupiter trajectory. Figure 53. Schematic of broken-plane trajectory.
Earth launch
May 1986
8
region within which optimal trajectories are maneuvers, which are identified in the first stages
ballistic. of mission design, consist of the broken-plane
maneuver, the orbiter deflection maneuver after
Mission Performance probe release, the Jupiter orbit insertion maneuver
(JOI), and the perijove raise maneuver of the first
Onboard attitude control and AV capability orbit. Navigational maneuvers consist of inter-
on the Galileo spacecraft are provided by the planetary trajectory correction maneuvers, an orbit
retropropulsion module, with a total usable pro- trim maneuver after insertion, and in-orbit
pellant capacity of 932 kg. Propellant is required maneuvers for satellite tour navigation.
f o r deterministic maneuvers, navigational A common measure of mission performance is
maneuvers, and attitude control. Deterministic propellant margin. Propellant margin, which is a
1/9/91
24/5/91
1 31219 1
511 1I 9 0
2a17190
19/4/90
911 190
e,
c
m
n
-
m 23/6/89
>
._
L
5112 / 8 8
iiiiia7
24/7/87
Launch date
11
- 200
to navigation considerations, separation is con- Table 5 . Sequence of Events
strained to occur no sooner than 14 days after solar
Times from Jupiter Encounter
conjunction or no later than 20 days before solar Event (Deriiove)
conjunction. This requirement excludes arrival
dates between September 16 and October 22. Probe separation - 150 days
In figure 56 the arrival date constraints are Orbit deflection maneuver - 147 days
superimposed on the propellant margin contours. Io flyby - 4 hr 7 min
The set of usable launch date/arrival date com- Orbiter perijove 0 hr
binations consists of those which lie outside these Probe entry 10 min
constraints and within the contour of zero pro- Start of probe relay link 12 min
pellant margin. Orbiter overflight 40 rnin
Approximately 150 days before Jupiter ar- End of probe relay link 1 hr 12 min
rival, the spacecraft will be spun up to 10 rpm and JOI start 1 hr 42 rnin
the probe released. This spinup will provide the
JOI end 2 hr 30 rnin
probe with the required spin stability for its five-
Solar occultation entrance 7 hr 25 rnin
month solo journey to Jupiter. The probe has no
maneuvering capability; therefore, prior to separa- Solar occultation exit 9 hr 55 min
tion the spacecraft must be traveling on the precise Earth occultation entrance 10 hr 5 5 min
ballistic entry trajectory. Earth occultation exit 13 hr 50 rnin
Three days after separation, an engine burn Perijove raise maneuver 100 days
10122
911 6
814
81
provides a AV of about 55 m/s to deflect the or- 4 R, perijove, it will begin to receive data from the
biter’s trajectory so that it will not follow the probe probe, which will have begun its descent into the
into Jupiter. The orbiter is specifically targeted to jovian atmosphere. The orbiter will transmit the
encounter the satellite Io about four hours before probe data to Earth in real time as well as record
closest approach. The Io encounter time is selected the data on its tape recorder. Soon after the probe
so that the subsequent radius at closest approach t o mission has been completed, the 400-newton
Jupiter is 4 R,. In addition, this maneuver engine will be ignited and will burn for almost an
establishes the orbiter-probe phasing so that the hour to achieve the desired 200-day highly elliptical
orbiter is approximately overhead the probe 30 initial orbit about Jupiter. The Io flyby, probe
minutes after the probe’s entry into the jovian at- relay, and JOI burn are shown in figure 58.
mosphere. About seven hours after perijove the orbiter
Figure 57 shows a trajectory pole view of the will be occulted by Jupiter from the Sun for two
Io flyby. Performance considerations dictate that hours. Shortly afterward there will be a three-hour
this encounter be a close equatorial flyby. The or- Earth occultation.
biter will pass in front of Io so that the gravita- Approximately 100 days later, at the first apo-
tional attraction of Io will slow the orbiter, reduc- jove, the perijove raise maneuver will raise perijove
ing the Jupiter orbit insertion AV requirements by to 11.5 R, so that the orbiter will survive the radia-
about 150 m/s for a 1000-km flyby altitude at Io. tion of eleven more passes through the jovian
The orbiter will pass through Io’s wake, since it will system.
fly by the leading hemisphere of the satellite. The
Io flyby also qualifies as a gravity pass, since there
is no Earth occultation and the spacecraft’s trajec- Probe Mission
tory will be bent as it passes in front of Io. This will
be the only close Io flyby during the mission, since Many constraints affect the design of the
the orbiter would probably not be able to with- probe mission: the expected lifetime of the probe
stand a second pass through the harsh jovian radia- battery precludes separating the probe earlier than
tion environment at the orbit of Io. 150 days before encounter (E - 150 days); separa-
Shortly after the orbiter has passed through its tion must occur outside the approximately 30-day
I Earth occultation
82
____ ~~~
Jupiter
imum of about 2270 m/s*, or 231 Earth g’s, at
about E t 58 seconds. Maximum dynamic
pressure will be about 5 x lo5 N/m*. By E + 115
seconds, the probe’s speed will decrease to Mach 1.
Here, at a n altitude of about 49 km, the probe will
deploy its main parachute and subsequently jet- Figure 60. Typical probe arrival geometry.
tison the ablative aeroshell structure, which will
have dissipated the major portion of the entry
energy. Atmospheric sample analysis by the axis. Therefore, at some point between E + 2
probe’s scientific instruments and transmission to minutes and E + 30 minutes, the signal crosses the
the orbiter of both stored and real-time data will RRA axis. At the end of mission (EOM), the signal
begin at this point. For the next hour the orbiter would arrive far off the RRA axis if the RRA were
will record the probe’s data and relay it in real time to remain inertially fixed. The dashed figure of the
to Earth. Probe terminator crossing (from day to RRA represents a repointing of the antenna to im-
night) will occur at about 19 minutes past entry. The prove the relay link performance in the later por-
possible water cloud deck will be traversed between tion of the mission. It may also be inferred that en-
about E + 22 minutes and E + 24 minutes (based vironmental losses will increase during the mission
on the nominal probe delivery and performance). as the probe falls deeper into the atmosphere and
The 10-bar pressure level will be reached at about E penetrates the clouds, resulting in attenuation of
+ 38 minutes. The end of the probe data relay the radio signal as the path length increases.
period will occur at about E + 62 minutes, when Figure 62 illustrates the probe descent profile
the probe has penetrated to the (approximately) for pressure, temperature, and altitude as a func-
21-bar pressure level, at an altitude of about - 137 tion of time.
km. A representative sequence of events for the
probe mission is shown in table 6. Satellite Tour Design
Figure 60 illustrates to scale the typical or- The Galileo mission is the first mission t o use
biter/probe arrival geometry from the orbiter’s Io an orbiting spacecraft to perform an intensive
flyby through the relay period and JOI. Note that scientific investigation of Jupiter, its environment,
the probe and orbiter trajectories are both nearly in and its Galilean satellites - Io, Europa, Ganymede,
Jupiter’s equatorial plane. and Callisto. The orbiter will perform a series of at
Figure 61 (not to scale) illustrates, in a planar least eleven highly elliptical revolutions about
approximation, the dynamic behavior of the link Jupiter. On each of these revolutions, a close,
geometry as a function of the time past entry. Note targeted flyby of one of the Galilean satellites is
that at signal acquisition, the signal enters the relay planned. This series of targeted encounters is
radio antenna (RRA) to the left of the RRA axis, termed a “tour.”
while 30 minutes later it enters to the right of the The influence of the gravity of any of the
84
Earth
Not t o scale
Entry - 1 bar + 4 5 0 k m
Galilean satellites may be used t o shape and control tours, each of which will satisfy many of the
the orbiter’s trajectory. Consequently, repeated science objectives in different ways. While it is
close flybys with Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto possible to design a tour to satisfy any single
are used to target the orbiter to the next satellite en- science requirement, the tendency for various
counter. In this manner, tightly limited orbiter AV science desires to be mutually incompatible rules
propellant need only be used for fine tuning out the possibility that any single tour can satisfy
navigational purposes. all the science requirements. Therefore, strategies
The design of a successful tour is constrained must be developed to maximize the satellite tour
by other factors in addition t o the laws of orbital science. Tour design strategies and their applica-
mechanics. Specifically, budgetary and hardware tion to a representative tour are discussed later.
constraints significantly influence the tour, as well
as the need to design encounters that permit the Gravity-Assist Trajectory Design
most useful scientific observations to be made.
These mission constraints and scientific re- In the past ten years, several interplanetary
quirements are described later. missions have utilized the gravity assist of an in-
At each satellite encounter, different aim- termediate planet in order t o reach subsequent
points exist that allow the orbiter to return to the targets. Most recent have been the Voyager flybys
same satellite or to encounter a different satellite. of Jupiter and Saturn in which those planets were
Consequently, an abundance of aimpoints at each used t o target the spacecraft’s heliocentric trajec-
satellite encounter can result in many possible tories.
85
Many missions currently in the planning and the gravity assist resulting from the satellite en-
analysis stage use gravity-assist concepts to reduce counters.
performance requirements. Interplanetary trajec- The basic mechanism of gravity-assisted flybys
tory options for Galileo that have been studied in- is illustrated in figure 63. Flying by the trailing or
clude Mars-powered swingbys, Earth-Venus- leading edge of a secondary body (satellite) pro-
Earth gravity assists, and Earth-deep space vides an increase or decrease in the spacecraft's
AV-Earth gravity assists. energy with respect to the central body (Jupiter).
Galileo will use a close flyby of the satellite Io Note that the spacecraft velocity vector with
near the orbit insertion maneuver to reduce the or- respect to the central body also rotates. The rules
bit insertion AV requirements. In addition, the for orbit rotation are shown in table 7 .
Galilean satellite tour will be possible only by using Each of the Galilean satellites provides unique
86
Altitude
8R, Pressure Temperature
2.5 x l o p 4 170 K
1 .o x 1 0 - 2 139 K
Fire mortar
Direct atmospheric
measurements - 1 bar 165 K
7 bar 305 K
10 bar 336 K
19 bar 400 K
reference mission
25 bar 441 K
116 118 9 32 41 6 0 75
hr S min
Figure 62. Probe descent profile.
Figure 63. Mechanics of gravity-assisted flybys.
a) Energy increasing
/ *-c 'Secondary
.. .
'Secondary
b) Energy decreasing
'Secondary
VB - Spacecraft velocity before encounter
VA - Spacecraft velocity after encounter
87
Table 7. Orbit Rotation
Spacecraft velocity with respect to the central body is reduced increased
inbound counter- clockwise
Satellite encounter is clockwise
outbound clockwise counter-
clockwise
orbit rotation is
Polar flybys of the secondary body can be used to provide an out-of-plane gravity assist to change orbit inclination.
gravity assist capabilities due t o differences in their Consequently, most tour designs tend t o have more
masses and orbital distances from Jupiter. Table 8 encounters with Ganymede than with any other
provides a summary of important physical and or- satellite.
bital data for each of the Galilean satellites. These Callisto, the outermost Galilean satellite, is
satellites are in near-circular equatorial orbits, and slightly more effective than Ganymede for chang-
the inner three satellites are locked into a tight ing orbiter inclination and/or orbiter perijove
resonance (Europa’s period is twice Io’s period, radius. On the other hand, because it is less massive
and Ganymede’s period is twice Europa’s period). and located farther from Jupiter than Ganymede,
The most effective satellites for changing the Callisto is less effective than Ganymede for chang-
spacecraft’s orbital period (equivalent to changing ing orbital period. Its effect in rotating the line of
energy) are Io and Ganymede. Because of Io’s apsides is about the same as that of Ganymede.
small orbital radius, the orbiter’s encounters with Europa, the least massive satellite, is least effi-
Io are near perijove, making these encounters effi- cient for changing either orbital period or inclina-
cient to change energy. The initial approach to Jupiter tion. Nonetheless, the high science priority to study
utilizes a close Io flyby to remove energy from the Europa requires that every tour design include
spacecraft orbit and thereby reduce the orbit insertion several Europa encounters.
AV. However, the orbit of Io is deep within Jupiter’s
radiation belts, and the orbiter is designed to tolerate Mission Constraints
only one close pass through that harsh radiation environ- Constraints on the orbiter mission are im-
ment. Thus, there is only one close Io encounter in the posed due to concerns about overall mission risk
satellite tour. and reliability, operational costs, hardware
Ganymede, the most massive satellite, is effec- capabilities, instrument reliability, and naviga-
tive for changing the spacecraft’s orbital period, tional accuracy. Project operational budgets dic-
orbital orientation [through rotation of the tate that the nominal orbiter mission conclude 20
orbiter’s line of apsides (the line through perijove months after Jupiter orbit insertion.
and apojove of an orbit)], and orbital inclination. Hardware capabilities of the space shuttle and
88
the Centaur upper stage restrict the available AV provide significant scientific information and are
(i.e., propellant mass) for tour navigation pur- physically realizable is provided in the box in
poses. Specifically, the total tour AV budget (deter- chapter I . Many of these requirements are mutual-
ministic plus statistical at 90% probability) is only ly exclusive. Consequently, while any one par-
205 m/s. ticular requirement can be met, it is impossible for
Instrument and orbiter reliability concerns im- any single tour to meet all of these scientific re-
pose a maximum accumulated radiation dosage quirements.
value to which the orbiter may be exposed. For the Galileo orbiter to have a close satellite
Energetic electrons and protons trapped in encounter, two conditions must be satisfied. First,
Jupiter’s radiation belts can cause interference and the orbits of the orbiter and the satellite must near-
damage in electronic parts in the Galileo orbiter. ly intersect. Second, the passages of the orbiter and
The measure of radiation dosage adopted is the the satellite through the line of nodes (defined by
dose in krad (Si) transmitted through a thickness of the intersection of their orbital planes) must occur
2.2 g/cm2 of aluminum for a spherical-shell model at nearly the same time.
(the dose that would penetrate t o a piece of silicone These two conditions are easier to satisfy for
situated in the center of a spherical shell of the Galilean satellite system if the orbiter is in an
aluminum 2.2 g/cm2 thick). T o ensure that such ef- equatorial orbit about Jupiter. Since the Galilean
fects do not seriously degrade spacecraft perfor- satellites are in near-circular equatorial orbits, the
mance, a maximum acceptable dose for the entire first condition is satisfied for orbiter equatorial or-
mission has been established at 150 krad. To ensure bits provided that perijove occurs within the
that prohibitive shielding masses are not required satellite orbit. The second condition is satisfied by
t o meet this constraint, it is necessary to raise the adjustment of the orbiter’s period from the gravity
orbiter perijove above the more intense region of assist of the previous satellite encounter and/or
Jupiter’s radiation belts. deterministic maneuvers.
The requirement to navigate the spacecraft ac- If the orbiter has a jovicentric inclination
curately necessitates that no more than one greater than a few degrees, the orbit intersection re-
targeted satellite encounter occur on any orbit. quirements to encounter a different satellite
Furthermore, the navigation system requires that a necessitate changes to the jovicentric orbit orienta-
minimum of 28 days occurs between targeted en- tion and inclination larger than what can reason-
counters on revolutions during which an apoapsis ably be achieved from the gravity assist of a
orbit trim maneuver is to be executed or a satellite encounter. Large deterministic maneuvers
minimum of 17 days occurs between targeted en- would then be required to provide the orbit
counters on revolutions during which no apoapsis geometry changes.
orbit trim maneuver is executed. For a 1986 launch, the initial hyperbolic ap-
Navigational constraints also impose a proach direction to Jupiter can vary from being in
minimum satellite flyby altitude of 200 km for a Jupiter’s equatorial plane to being a few degrees
targeted encounter. out of the plane. Since performance considerations
A nontargeted encounter occurs when the dictate a near-perijove, coplanar orbit insertion,
spacecraft passes relatively close to one of the the initial orbit about Jupiter may be inclined a few
Galilean satellites other than the primary targeted degrees to the Jupiter equatorial plane. To avoid
satellite on a given orbit. Nontargeted encounters large deterministic maneuvers, the initial en-
provide important scientific data-gathering oppor- counters of the satellite tour would be with the
tunities. same satellite at the same location in its orbit. Orbit
inclination is reduced with these encounters until
Science Requirements. The scientific in- the spacecraft orbit is in the equatorial plane,
vestigations t o be performed by the orbiter can be allowing subsequent encounters with other
divided into three areas: investigations of the --*-11:* __
SdLClll lci.
Galilean satellites (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and
Callisto), investigations of Jupiter, and investiga- Nontargeted Satellite Encounter Strat-
tion of the fields and particles in Jupiter’s egy. Since the Galileo spacecraft does not have a
magnetosphere. wide-angle camera, it is necessary to have en-
A list of the major “requirements” that would counters with flyby altitudes up to 50 OOO km t o
89
gain enough time to mosaic the Galilean satellites Jupiter do not appreciably change the "real estate"
at a resolution of 1 km with a narrow-angle viewed on approach to or departure from the
camera. In addition, distant flybys provide the on- satellite. However, the surface illumination is dif-
ly means to image large areas of the satellites not ferent, depending on where the satellite is en-
previously imaged by Voyager. countered in its orbit, relative t o the Jupiter-Sun
Distant targeted satellite encounters are dif- line. Figure 64 shows that the approach phase
ficult t o design because of the limited gravity angles, $, are very low for spacecraft orbital angles
assistance available to set up the next encounter. near 90" (apojove over the jovian dawn ter-
O n any perijove pass with a close targeted en- minator). This orientation always occurs early in
counter, it may be possible to have additional en- the mission, whereas late in the mission, due t o
counters, known as nontargeted encounters, with spacecraft orbit rotation toward the tail, the ap-
the other Galilean satellites. If these nontargeted proach phase angles are about 90".
flyby altitudes are between 25 000 and 50 000 km, We can construct longitudinal coverage plots
they generally can be used to provide 1-km that illustrate the satellite surface areas that can be
coverage. Because of the close commensurability observed on approach and exit for inbound and
between the orbit periods of Europa and outbound encounters. An example is shown in
Ganymede, it is possible to have repeated Europa figure 65 for spacecraft orbital angles of 90" and
and Ganymede nontargeted encounters over 180" (orbit apoapsis located in the dawn and tail
several orbits. Callisto is not locked in resonance regions, respectively).
with Europa and Ganymede; thus, nontargeted Regions do exist that cannot be observed on
Callisto encounters are more sporadic and difficult approach or exit for any spacecraft orbital orienta-
to include in a satellite tour design. tion. These gaps unfortunately coincide with
Nontargeted encounters are a function of regions not observed by the Voyager spacecraft,
jovicentric orbit orientation, targeted satellite en- since both Voyager and Galileo trajectories are
counter time, and perijove distance. Since the orbit posigrade, with perijove far beneath the orbits of
orientation for all tours is constrained by the in- Ganymede and Callisto.
terplanetary trajectory and a magnetospheric re- By taking inbound/outbound encounter pairs
quirement to achieve a tail petal orbit, orbit for Ganymede and Callisto at any jovicentric orbit
periods and perijoves must be designed to take ad- orientation, the longitudinal coverage is maximized
vantage of the nontargeted opportunities that due to the true anomaly at encounter being k 90".
naturally occur. However, for Europa, because the spacecraft true
Typically, Galileo satellite tours will have anomaly at encounter is small (within +-3O"), an
about three or four nontargeted encounters within early outbound (dawn) encounter coupled with a
a range of 50 000 km. Even then, some of the non- late inbound (midnight) encounter is required to
targeted encounters may be dark-side flybys, maximize the coverage.
rendering them useless for satellite imaging. The approach phase angle- the angle
Satellite Coverage Strategy. Each of the measured from periapsis to the spacecraft - for
Galilean satellites is in synchronous rotation with early encounters is very low (high Sun angle),
Jupiter; that is, the same satellite hemisphere whereas for late encounters the approach phase
always points toward the planet. Consequently, as angle is approximately 90" (low Sun angle). By
illustrated in figure 64, the approach to an out- carefully choosing inbound/outbound pairs at dif-
bound satellite encounter (occurring after perijove) ferent orbit orientations, it is possible t o obtain
allows viewing of the satellite hemisphere toward maximum coverage at different Sun angles and
Jupiter, while the approach t o an inbound satellite therefore choose which science objectives to em-
encounter (occurring before perijove) allows view- phasize.
ing of the satellite hemisphere pointing away from Figures 64 and 65 show that the gaps in global
Jupiter. Therefore, good coverage of a satellite re- coverage, centered on longitudes of 90" and 270"
quires at least two separate encounters with that on Ganymede and Callisto and 160" on Europa,
satellite: one inbound and one outbound. cannot be filled by a close targeted encounter.
Changes t o the shapes and size of the jovicen- These gaps can be partially filled by distant non-
tric orbit or changes to the orbit orientation about targeted encounters early in a tour and completely
90
Figure 64. Encounter geometries, satellite longi-
tudes, and phase angles that occur
throughout the Galileo orbital tour.
filled by distant light-side nontargeted encounters coverage at low to moderate Sun angles can be ob-
late in a tour. Distant light-side nontargeted en- tained near one terminator. Late encounters
counters allow mosaics to be taken throughout the feature approach phase angles near 90". For close,
entire encounter period, including closest ap- late encounters, high-resolution coverage at low
proach. Close targeted encounters do not allow Sun angles can be obtained near one terminator
global coverage at closest approach, since the or- just prior t o encounter and near the other ter-
biter's velocity is too high to allow enough time to minator just after encounter. The high-resolution
completely mosaic the available surface. low-Sun coverage is thereby doubled, and if the en-
High-iesoliiiioii coverage can, of course, be counter is on the iight side, high-resolution high-
obtained only during close encounters. Early en- Sun coverage is also available.
counters feature low-phase approaches, with en- Tail Petal Strategy. A prime magneto-
counter occurring nearly over the terminator. For spheric requirement is for a tail petal (the pattern
close early encounters, therefore, high-resolution of the elliptical orbits resembles a flower; hence,
91
Ganymede I I
Orbit analf Dawn
I I I I I I I 1 I I 1
Longitude
30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 36(
Midnight
Key
o = Outbound
I Covered
with distant
flyby (i)
Covered
with distant
flyby (0)
i = Inbound
a = Approach
e = Exit
E = Orbital angle
I Europa
Gap I
Orbit angle = 90' I
I
F A ] Dawn
Longitude
I t- ia 4
I
Orbit angle = 180'
'-
I t- oe
1 Covered
k
:Covered
ia
*
Midnight
the orbits are referred t o as petals) orbit (150 R, If possible, it is desirable to delay the tail petal
apojove located within 15" of the anti-Sun direc- rotation for several reasons. First, Jupiter science is
tion) t o allow measurements within the jovian enhanced, since longer viewing of the lit hemi-
magnetotail. Initially, the orbital apojove is sphere of Jupiter is allowed. Second, preserving the
located near the dawn petal region. Therefore, it is initial orbit orientation allows high Sun angle ap-
necessary to utilize satellite gravity assist to help in proaches to the satellites. Finally, this strategy
the rotation of the orbit toward the tail petal maximizes the j ovicentric orbit orientation dif-
region. ference between Europa encounters, which im-
T o achieve eleven orbits within the nominal proves Europa coverage.
20-month mission, it is not possible to include the Jupiter Occultation Strategy. One of the
large tail petal orbit, with a period of at least 87 science requirements in tour design is the inclusion
days, in the middle of the tour. The strategy, then, of Jupiter occultations t o pass radio signals
is to place the tail petal orbit at the end of the tour. through the atmosphere (the orbiter is occulted by
The initial orbit orientation dictates whether it is Jupiter as seen from Earth). Trajectories can be
necessary to rotate the spacecraft orbit immediate- designed to provide Jupiter occultations by deliver-
ly toward the tail petal region. ing the spacecraft to the same point at the same
92
satellite on successive encounters. Such 360" Table 9 shows pertinent information about
transfers allow a range of jovicentric inclinations, each of the satellite encounters in this tour. The
one of which is selected to provide the most jovicentric orbits resulting from these encounters
favorable Jupiter occultation. (Transfer trajec- are illustrated in figure 66, which shows the pro-
tories between different satellites require unique gression of orbits from the initial 200-day orbit to
lovicentric geometries and cannot be modified for the final tail petal orbit. The coordinate system
1 specific Jupiter occultation.) used in this figure is one in which the direction to
For the current mission, Jupiter's equatorial the Sun is fixed. Therefore, the total rotation be-
;and satellite orbit) plane is inclined t o the Earth- tween the initial and final encounters is due t o both
Jupiter line. Consequently, an equatorial satellite the satellite encounters and the motion of Jupiter
:our, required to encounter all of the Galilean about the Sun. (Note: the number that follows a satellite
satellites, does not yield Jupiter occultations. In- name indicates orbit number, not flyby number.)
:lined orbits, which require 360" transfers, are re- Initial Ganymede Encounters. The Jupiter
quired to provide the Jupiter occultations. arrival date for this satellite tour is August 25,
To design equatorial Jupiter occultations, it is 1988. Approximately 100 days later, a maneuver
iecessary that the orbiter line of nodes (line of in- will be executed to raise perijove to 11.5 R, and to
.ersection between the equatorial plane and the target the orbiter to the first encounter of the
spacecraft's orbital plane) be oriented about 90" satellite tour. Future tour designs will consider
From the Earth direction. Then inclined orbits values other than 11.5 R,.
lbout Jupiter of approximately 2" will provide
:quatorial Jupiter occultations. For the Galileo Since the initial tour perijove value is above
nission, this favorable orientation occurs for Europa's orbit, the first satellite encounter must be
Zallisto inbound encounters and Ganymede in- with either Ganymede or Callisto. For this tour,
Jound and outbound encounters during the middle Ganymede was selected because it is more effective
Jf the satellite tour. than Callisto for changing orbit period. The initial
200-day orbit period will be reduced to 64 days by
Perijove Profile Strategy. The satellite tour this equatorial flyby. The initial tour encounters
lesign begins with the perijove raise maneuver. must be used to reduce orbit period as quickly as
rhis maneuver, performed near the first apojove, possible so that the nominal mission can be com-
.aises perijove t o typically 11.5 R,, a less harsh pleted in the 20 months following orbit insertion.
-adiation environment. The current nominal value Limited propellant onboard the orbiter rules out
s 11.5 R,, since for a typical tour it holds the ac- using the JOI maneuver to achieve an initial orbit
xmulated radiation dosage below 150 krad. period below 200 days.
Values less than 11.5 R, are permissible provided
The second Ganymede flyby is a polar pass to
.hat the tour's perijove profile is modified so that lower inclination and t o place the spacecraft in the
.he 150-krad constraint is not violated. equatorial plane. The encounter is used t o satisfy
The initial perijove value affects the timing of the Ganymede gravity experiment, which requires
the first Europa encounter in the tour. As the orbit that the tour contain both a close equatorial and a
period is reduced from its initial 200-day value via close polar distinction of the principal moments of
satellite encounters, the orbit perijove is also re- inertia (measure of satellite mass density distribu-
h c e d from its initial value. The closer the initial tion, determined from the manner in which the
3erijove value is to 9.4 R, (Europa's orbit), the satellite's gravity bends the trajectory) of Gany-
sooner the orbit perijove will be reduced below mede. To achieve sufficient inclination to require
Europa's orbit. the Ganymede 2 flyby to be polar, the Ganymede 1
Representative Satellite Tour encounter slightly increases orbit inclination from
2" to 3". Having an initially inclined jnvicefitric E-
In this section, a representative satellite tour is bit is desirable because it allows the design of a
presented t o illustrate the tour design strategies single Ganymede polar pass in the tour. (Starting
discussed above. This tour satisfies most major from an equatorial orbit usually requires the inclu-
science objectives; however, further investigation is sion of two Ganymede polar passes. The second
required before a final tour is selected. polar pass is required t o reduce the inclination
93
Table 9. Representative Satellite Tour Summary
SatelliteAnbound Altitude Latitude
Encounter Date Satellite/Outbound (km) (de@ Objective
1 18 Mar 89 Ganymedeh 834 - 20 Reduce period, gravity,
magnetic field, wake
2 21 May 89 Ganymedeh 1,146 + 89 Reduce inclination, gravity,
magnetic field, flux tube
3 22 Jul 89 Callisto/In 494 +5 Reduce perijove, gravity,
magnetic field, wake
4 1 Sept 89 Europa/In 1,400 - 89 Gravity, magnetic field,
flux tube
5 10 Oct 89 Europa/Out 200 + 15 Coverage, occultation, wake
6 9 Nov 89 Callisto/Out 6,346 - 10 Rotation, occultation, wake
7O 2 Dec 89 Europa/In 25,000 + 10 Coverage
7 3 Dec 89 Ganymede/Out 3,258 -6 Rotation, occultation, wake
8 21 Dec 89 Ganymede/In 1,722 +7 Rotation, occultation
9 17 Jan 90 Europa/In 472 -2 Coverage, occultation
10" 22 Feb 90 Callisto/In 40,630 + 12 Coverage
10 23 Feb 90 Ganymede/In 3,680 - 13 Increase period, rotation
11 13 Apr 90 CallistoAn 277 + 16 Tail petal
1l o 14 Apr 90 Ganymede/In 45,955 - 22 Coverage
29 May 90 Tail petal apojove (JOI + 21 months) Magnetosphere
resulting from the first polar pass. Consecutive Callisto 3 Encounter. After the initial
polar passes d o not maximize satellite coverage, Ganymede flybys, the orbiter will encounter
since the satellite is encountered at the same loca- Callisto on its next passage through the jovian
tion in its orbit, giving redundant lighting condi- satellite system. Since it is desirable t o encounter
tions on the same surface area.) For some of the in- each of the Galilean satellites as soon as possible,
terplanetary transfers in the launch/arrival date the Callisto flyby is used t o reduce perijove below
space, the initial inclination at Jupiter is sufficient- Europa's orbit, thereby allowing a Europa en-
ly small that it is possible t o encounter other counter on the next orbit. The Callisto encounter is
satellites after the Ganymede 1 encounter. For designed t o be inbound to delay rotation toward
those tours, consecutive Ganymede polar passes the tail petal region.
may have to be designed if the requirements for a This encounter provides the only opportunity
Ganymede gravity experiment are t o be satisfied. for a close Callisto wake passage. All satellite en-
The initial Ganymede encounters for this tour counters resulting in a wake passage must
were designed t o be inbound t o prevent the necessarily pass the leading side of the satellite,
jovicentric orbit from rotating clockwise toward causing a reduction in orbit period and perijove.
the tail petal region. The period-reducing, inbound Because of the large perijove reduction resulting
encounters rotate the jovicentric orbit clockwise from a close equatorial Callisto flyby, Callisto
away from the tail petal region. However, due t o wake passes must occur early in a tour, when the
the motion of Jupiter about the Sun, there is a drift orbit periods and corresponding perijoves are still
of the jovicentric orbits toward the tail petal region relatively high. Callisto wake passages occurring
a t a rate of about 2.5" per month. This drift during later in a tour, after the orbit period has been
the initial orbits cancels out the rotation away from reduced t o 30 days, would result in low perijove
the tail petal region resulting from the initial in- values that would cause excessive radiation dosages
bound Ganymede encounters. to the orbiter.
94
Sun
5 12
Initial Europa Encounters. The next two The Eiuropa 4 flyby is 2 c!ese pe!a: flyby,
satellite encounters in the representative tour are enabling the orbiter to pass through the flux tube, a
with Europa. The first Europa encounter is in- high-priority science objective (see chapter 4). The
bound, providing high Sun coverage. The second limited Europa gravity assist allows for the design
encounter is outbound, as required for achieving of Europa polar flybys without using 360" transfer
the maximum possible Europa coverage. trajectories. In this tour, the Europa polar pass
95
targets the orbiter from an inbound Europa flyby and Europa. Both flybys provide additional rota-
to an outbound Europa flyby. tion to set up a tail petal orbit at the end of the
tour.
Callisto 6 and Ganymede 7 Encounters. At The Europa encounter, which is the last flyby
the halfway point of the tour, the following major with that satellite in this tour, is an inbound en-
objectives have not been satisifed: tail petal orbit, counter to maximize coverage.
inbound/outbound encounters with each satellite,
and distant nontargeted encounters with each Ganymede 10 and Callisto 11 Encounters.
satellite. The remaining encounters in the tour are The final two tour encounters provide orbit rota-
designed to satisfy these objectives. tion and increase orbit period so that the tail petal
The Callisto 6 and Ganymede 7 encounters are apojove is moved out to 148 R,. Usually, the final
both designed to provide orbit rotation toward the encounter in a tour design is with Ganymede, since
tail petal region. Both encounters are period- Ganymede is more effective than Callisto for rais-
decreasing, outbound flybys. These two encounters ing orbit apojove. However, reversing the typical
complete the desired inbound/outbound couplet sequence of final encounters allows distant non-
for each of the satellites. targeted encounters with Callisto and Ganymede.
About one day before the Ganymede 7 en- Both nontargeted encounters are light-side flybys
counter, the first nontargeted flyby in the tour, a with closest approach altitudes under SO 000 km.
light-side Europa flyby from 25 000 km, will occur. Figure 67 provides trajectory pole views for
each of the satellite encounters. Passage of the or-
Ganymede 8 and Europa 9 Encounters. biter through regions of scientific interest such as
The next two encounters in the tour are period- Earth occultation, Sun occultation, flux tube, and
increasing, inbound encounters with Ganymede wake, are shown.
Earth -Wake
L Sun
Earth - occultation
occultation
Earth
occultation Flux tube Sun
7
c
Jupiter
Sun, Earth -
occultation
(d) Fourth orbit flyby of Europa. (f) Sixth orbit flyby of Callisto.
97
t
Earth
Jupiter occultation
Sun -
Earth -
occultation -Wake
Sun -
\
occultation
(g) Seventh orbit nontargeted flyby of Europa. (i) Eighth orbit flyby of Ganymede.
t l i
Earth
Sun
-
-
occultation
Jupiter
\
98
Sun
occultation i Sun -c
Earth -
Earth
occultation /
Spacecraft
Ip 5m
occultation
i
Jupiter f
\
k) Tenth orbit flyby of Callisto.
f
f !
n) Eleventh orbit flyby of Callisto.
~-
Sun
occu'tation 7 ESun
a r t i
Earth J
b
occultation 'ake
Sun
t
'
occultation
Jupiter
1
) Tenth orbit flyby of Ganymede. (n) Eleventh orbit nontargeted flyby of Ganymede.
99
chap~edHE GALlLEO SPACECRAFT
The Galileo spacecraft represents a major balance inertial properties for stability and
design challenge for long-term planetary missions. performance. The RTGs and sensitive science
Like its predecessors, the Galileo system design instruments are therefore mounted on
reflects the influence of mission and science re- separate booms whose lengths are compatible
quirements, lifetime considerations, environmental with radiation and inertial property re-
factors, technology readiness, hardware availabili- quirements while minimizing the use of ballast
ty, and cost. Additionally, experience gained as mass.
part of the Voyager spacecraft design implementa-
tion and flight experience, and interfaces with the provide unobstructed or nearly unobstructed
Space Transportation System, have had profound fields of view for instruments located on the
effects on the design. This chapter presents an science boom and scan platform.
overview of the Galileo spacecraft system design provide mounting locations for the bipro-
within the context of these major considerations. pellant thrusters where plume exhaust prod-
ucts will not interfere with the operation of
any science instrument on the orbiter.
Spacecraft Design
accommodate the plasma wave subsystem and
The spacecraft configuration represents many magnetometer sensors t o minimize the effects
compromises made to simultaneously satisfy a of orbiter-generated interference.
myriad of different (and sometimes conflicting) re- provide mounting locations for in-flight
quirements. Some of the major Galileo configura- calibration targets which are compatible with
tion design considerations include requirements to: selected instrument viewing and measurement
attentuate the intense radiation and thermal requirements.
environments produced by the radioisotope ,.--..:,I- -,...- 4:-- 1---.--fur
pL u v L U G ~ ~ ~ U U ~ I iuLdiiuim
--
tiit: probe,
L I I I ~
thermoelectric generators (RTGs). For this relay radio receivers, and relay antenna.
reason, the RTGs are mounted some distance
away from the bus electronics, and the arrange scan platform science instruments and
radiation-sensitive science instruments are despun electronic equipment bays to minimize
mounted on a boom away from the RTGs. products of inertia and use of ballast mass.
101
orbiter also accommodates the entry probe in both while simultaneously consolidating data handling
its attached and detached mission phases. and command and sequence functions and is con-
The orbiter contains many elements of ad- sistent with advances in the state of the art in data
vanced technology and new development. The systems design.
number of new elements is not confined to a single Other new elements include the furlable 4.8-m
design discipline but is distributed across the total high-gain antenna; a charge-coupled device in the
system. The attitude control system contains new imaging subsystem to improve dynamic range, sen-
high-speed computers, an SBA t o interface across sitivity, stability, and reliability; and new genera-
the spun and despun sections, a star scanner to tion RTGs using improved heat sources and ther-
establish automatic in-flight attitude determina- mocouple design.
tion, and a scan actuator subassembly incor- The requirement for substantial real-time data
porating a flex capsule wire assembly for electronic return from jovian distances (approximately 5 to 6
;ntnrfoAnn TI IhI L
a UULU
Aotn r . ~ r c l t n mv i c l a r . n An+- I.-..- nn- A l l \ :- --+ L
.. +L- L:-h C ,- A
,,. V Ln-A l Q A l C
L ~ ~ L W L U L , A U ~ . J J ~ C C A U U J ~ Da u a L a U U J LWII- n u ) I> i i i c L u y uic i i i ~ i i - ~ c i i w i i i i aA-uaiiu
i i ~ ~ \o+i_r
cept operating at 806 kHz to interface with all MHz) telemetry downlink operating at 115 and 134
science users and some engineering users. The data kilobits/s. Maintenance of this link requires very
bus approach is the most effective means of accom- accurate pointing of the high-gain antenna
modating the requirements of the varied users simultaneously with many other attitude control
103
functions, including accurate pointing of the power from the generators degrades with time due
remote sensing science platform at various mission t o fuel decay and other processes and is limited to
targets . 579 W at launch and 486 W at the end of six years.
The orbiter mission and science requirements The DC output of the RTGs is regulated and con-
require a propulsive capability of nearly 1600 m/s ditioned to provide 30 Vdc and 50 V, 2.4 kHz AC
for probe delivery, orbit insertion, satellite tour, power for the spacecraft systems.
and other attitude control functions. T o meet this Pyrotechnic elements on the orbiter primarily
need, the orbiter is equipped with a bipropellant comprise electroexplosive devices, squibs, and
propulsion system using oxidizer and fuel bellow actuators used for separation and deploy-
pressurized with helium. Usable propellant is ment events, cable cutter events, and deployment
limited to 932 kg. of science instrument and star scanner protective
Power is supplied for all electrical loads from covers. Pyrotechnic events on the despun section
the two plutonium-238-fueled RTGs. Output include major functions such as spacecraft-launch
Radio -c Modulation/
demodulation Relay
subsystem +- receivers
SEA electrical
STS
To
subsvstems Power
-----
I
I
o+-
I
Power
-----
- To
subsystems
and probe
Pyro
104
vehicle separation, spun-despun section release, tended. In flight, the HGA will point toward Earth
probe separation, RTG and science boom release, while the spun section spins at a nominal 3.15 rpm
relay antenna release, and scan platform science and the despun section is stabilized. HGA pointing
cover deployments. On the spun side, pyrotechnic updates, spin rate control, and small propulsive
events include RPM pyrotechnic valve actuation, maneuvers will be accomplished using RPM IO-N
magnetometer boom deployment, HGA release, thrusters mounted on booms located on opposite
and instrument cover deployments. sides of the orbiter. Most of the large propulsive
Orbiter accommodations for the probe are maneuvers will be accomplished using the RPM’s
limited to those necessary t o deliver the probe and single 400-N engine with the complete orbiter spin-
t o meet shuttle safety requirements, t o monitor and ning at a nominal 10 rpm.
perform health checks during the interplanetary
cruise phase, and to perform the critical data recep- Telecommunications System
tion and Earth relay functions during the probe’s The telecommunications system located total-
jovian atmospheric entry. The orbiter is imple- ly on the orbiter’s spun section is comprised of
mented with probe-dedicated mechanical and elec- elements required for receiving uplink commands
trical interfaces (power, data, and pyrotechnics) as and transmitting downlink telemetry. The uplink
well as special data modes and rates to accom- portion of the system receives the radio frequency
modate the pre- and postprobe separation phases. carrier signal with command data a t 21 15 MHz and
The probe relay reception function is accom- demodulates, detects, and routes command data t o
modated via a dedicated movable antenna the command and data system, while the downlink
mounted on the despun section and electrically portion receives telemetry data from the command
connected t o redundant relay radio receivers. and data system and modulates it onto S-band and
Launch from the Space Transportation X-band carriers at 2295 and 8415 MHz, respective-
System (STS) results in two major considerations, ly.
mass and safety. Galileo is expected to be one of The telecommunications system design pro-
the first of a series of interplanetary missions to vides a dual channel downlink. The high-rate chan-
utilize the STS. Present shuttle and Centaur upper nel provides a convolutionally coded, pulse-code-
stage performance estimates limit the spacecraft in- modulated microwave channel, while the low-rate
jected mass t o 2550 kg, including adapters. channel data is uncoded. Key elements include the
Because the STS is a manned vehicle, special safety furlable 4.8-m circular parabolic HGA (fig. 72)
features have been incorporated t o meet shuttle used for receiving and transmitting both S- and
safety requirements. Special electrical inhibits have X-band signals, redundant transponders, redun-
been added to elements of the power, pyrotechnic, dant dual-power S- and X-band power amplifiers,
and radio frequency systems and the probe. and an S-band low-gain antenna. A late addition t o
The orbiter must operate reliably and the telecommunications equipment includes the X
autonomously in the harsh jovian radiation and to S down-converter receiver t o implement an
electrostatic discharge environments during probe X-band uplink receive capability.
relay and orbit insertion (accomplished at 4 RJ). Transmission of telemetry data is available at
The design of both the hardware and software S-band and/or X-band over a wide range of select-
mechanizations maximizes the probability of suc- able data rates, depending on both spacecraft and
cess for these major critical mission phases. ground conditions. The uplink S-band com-
The orbiter must also be immune to single munication data rate is 32 bits/s and can be main-
faults that could result in the loss of probe delivery, tained throughout the mission over the low-gain
relay data return, orbit insertion, more than one antenna if the orbiter is pointed toward the Sun.
science instrument, or more than 50 percent of all The diameter of the antenna itself was selected
engineering data. based on mission data return considerations and
In the launch configuration (figs. 70 and 71) p.Tides fer re&time* imagifig frsm Jupiter at l34
the HGA and all booms must be furled so that the
spacecraft fits within the shuttle payload bay. In
the flight configuration with probe attached (fig. *The term real-time here refers to time at the spacecraft, since
68) the RTG booms, science boom, and HGA will radio messages traveling at the speed of light take about 30
be deployed and the magnetometer boom ex- minutes to reach Earth.
105
and 115.2 kilobitds. A maximum power allocation The combination of an X-band high-rate
of approximately 160 W (33 percent of total channel and the HGA provides the key t o Galileo’s
available) is provided for the combined S-band and high data rate capability. Intended for use primari-
X-band communications function. This power is ly at Jupiter, the combination permits real-time
divided among the telecommunications elements transmission of probe entry data at 28.8 kilobitds
based on mission requirements and power or real-time imaging data with real-time low-rate
amplifier design needs. Dual power level, traveling science at 115.2 kilobits/s as well as real-time imag-
wave tube amplifier transmitters provide maximum ing, with low-rate science and playback low-rate
S-band cruise data return and high-rate X-band science at 134.4 kilobits/s. A full-resolution picture
data return from Jupiter while simultaneously read from the imaging camera’s charge-coupled
satisfying dual-frequency tracking and radio device occurs about once every 60 seconds. The
science requirements. capability also exists to read out a high-resolution
I06
picture in about 2 seconds. A constant 7.68 kilobits
stream of low-rate science and engineering data is
provided during cruise and Jupiter operations.
Link conditions permitting, however, high-
rate channel data at 7.68 kilobitds, 28.8 kilobits/s
(probe), or higher can be transmitted via the HGA
and S-band system. The low-rate S-band channel is
intended primarily for returning continuous 40
bits/s engineering telemetry throughout the mis-
sion. Radio frequency output power is modulated
by adjusting S-band (or X-band) modulation in-
dices to balance the needs for carrier tracking
against those for data return. Significant perform-
ance parameters of the major elements comprising
the telecommunications system are shown in table
10.
The telecommunications channels provide two
“classes” of data quality to the scientific users-
high quality (bit error rates less than 5 x for
nonimaging science and a lower quality (bit error
rates less than 5 x for imaging. This is
achieved by operating the downlink channel at a
signal to noise ratio equivalent to an error rate of
about 5 x thus maximizing data quantity Figure 71. The Galileo development test model,
returned for imaging. Nonimaging science is coded with booms stowed, antenna furled, and
spacecraft adaptors attached, in the
onboard the orbiter using a Golay error-detecting,
launch configuration, was on display at
error-correcting code t o allow reconstruction of the the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during an
data received at Earth to the quality needed for Open House in August 1983.
those science users.
Several other features are incorporated in the
telecommunications area, mainly t o enhance radio
science and navigation. A noncoherent tracking
107
mode is available which permits the orbiter t o be oxidizer tanks containing nitrogen tetroxide), two
commanded while the downlink frequency source helium pressurant tanks, twelve 10-N thrusters (six
is controlled by an auxillary oscillator or an each mounted on separate cantilevered booms),
ultrastable oscillator providing short-term frequen- one 400-N engine, and necessary isolation and con-
cy stability of better than 5 parts in 10l2. A dif- trol elements. At launch, the system is fully loaded
ferential downlink-only ranging mode is also with 932 kg of usable propellant and weighs about
available using one S-band and three X-band sine 1145 kg. Four of the IO-N thrusters are mounted in
wave tones modulated onto the downlinks to a direction to provide a functional backup for the
enhance navigational accuracy. A single X-band to 400-N engine. The thrusters are mechanized on two
S-band down-converter receiver is available for separate branches providing redundancy for spin
receiving X-band uplink signals t o enhance radio control, HGA pointing, and trajectory correction.
science and the search for gravity waves. The Only three uses of the 400-N engine are planned; all
capability exists to completely remove all telemetry are subsequent t o probe separation.
modulation from the downlink carriers, thus max- Control of propellant to the 10-N thrusters
imizing atmospheric penetration depth during and the 400-N engine is accomplished by opening
Earth occultations. and closing fuel and oxidizer solenoid latch valves
via electrical signals from the attitude control
Propulsion System system propulsion drive electronics. The propul-
The Galileo RPM system (fig. 73), located on sion drive electronics also provide the control
the orbiter spun side and supplied by the Federal signals for opening and closing the thruster and
Republic of Germany, is based on earlier bipro- 400-N engine valves.
pellant Symphonie designs. The system provides all
Command a n d Data System
directed impulse for attitude control, trajectory
correction, and Jupiter orbit insertion. The propul- The primary responsibility for command, con-
sion functions consist of spin rate control, fine trol, and data handling is performed by the actively
turning t o point the HGA to Earth, and orienting redundant command and data subsystem (CDS).
the spacecraft for propulsive or science maneuvers. The major functions of this computer system in-
The RPM includes four propellant tanks (two fuel clude processing and issuing real-time commands
tanks containing monomethylhydrazine and two from Earth and executing sequences of stored com-
mands either as part of a normal preplanned flight
activity or in response to the actuation of various
fault recovery routines, and controlling and select-
ing data modes and collecting and formatting
science and engineering data for downlink
transmission. The CDS employs a new architecture
using multiple microprocessors and a high-speed
data bus for both internal and user communica-
tion, thus taking advantage of the state of the art in
data system engineering.
The majority of CDS electronics are located
on the orbiter spun side in proximity t o the data
storage, science, and telecommunication equip-
ment. CDS despun elements are limited t o those
necessary to support the probe and relay radio
hardware equipment, the scan platform-mounted
-~
remote science instruments, the launch vehicle, and
F i g u r e 73. Technicians at Messerschmitt-Bolkow-
Blohm inspect the retropropulsion sequence operations. Six 1802 microprocessors,
module. The 400-N engine is in the center memory units, and the data bus comprise the
of the cluster of propellant tanks. (Photo “heart” of the CDS. Four of the microprocessors
courtesy of Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (two high-level modules and two low-level
GMbH) modules) and four memory units contain a total of
108
144 000 words of random access memory and are section spin rate; orienting the spin vector; con-
located on the spun section along with supporting trolling propulsion isolation valves, heaters, 10-N
electronics. The low-level modules of the remain- thruster firing, and 400-N engine firing; and con-
ing two microprocessors, each with 16K RAM, are trolling the science platform containing the remote
located on the despun section. The data bus com- sensing instruments on the despun section.
prises three dedicated busses. Two are individually The design of the AACS is profoundly in-
controlled by dedicated bus controller interfaces fluenced by science requirements and the various
with each high-level module. The third bus is con- spacecraft operational configurations that must be
trolled by the CDS support equipment and is used accommodated. In addition to the basic cruise
only for system test operations. The bus interface dual-spin configuration (orbiter with probe), the
consists of four separate signals comprising super- AACS accommodates dual spin without the probe
visory data at 403.2 kHz, reply data at 403.2 kHz, a for orbital operations and all spin with and without
synchronization clock at 806.4 kHz, and a real- the probe for trajectory corrections at spin rates
time interrupt (RTI) a t 15 Hz. The bus interface is from 3 to 10 rpm.
used by all data users, that is, orbiter science, the The AACS incorporates many functional
attitude and articulation control subsystem, and elements to meet the demanding performance,
relay radio hardware receivers. lifetime, and reliability requirements. The majority
Interfacing between spun and despun portions of the AACS functional elements are block re-
of the CDS is accomplished via slip rings and dundant and located on the orbiter’s spun side.
rotary transformers mounted on the spin bearing Despun elements include those necessary for con-
assembly. Efficient and effective communication trolling the pointing and slewing of the scan plat-
with data users is accomplished using a specifically form, pointing the relay antenna, and interfacing
defined protocol structure and real-time interrupt with the spun section electronics.
time slicing. The bus and protocol allow users some The central element of the AACS is the at-
flexibility in the design of their bus interface. The titude control electronics (ACE) that control the
protocol addressing schemes provide for either a AACS configuration; monitor its health; perform
relatively simple bus adapter that employs the executive, telemetry, command, and processing
user’s processor direct memory access capability or functions; provide spun position data to other sub-
a more complex bus adapter with direct memory systems; and provide AACS fault recovery. The
access capability independent of the user’s proc- “heart” of the ACE is a high-speed 2900 ATAC-16
essor. The protocol allows multiple recipients t o be processor and memory containing 3 1K words times
addressed for any given message, although the ma- 16-bit RAM and 1K words times 16-bit ROM.
jority of messages will be t o single recipients. Each The ROM contents are limited to those func-
message consists of a header and a body. The tions required t o safeguard the science instruments,
header contains control words which define the switch to the low-gain antenna, and Sun point the
message source and recipient via user identification orbiter to permit ground commanding. Activation
codes and specify the starting address in the user’s of the ROM program occurs only with a detected
memory for the message transfer and a filler word loss of RAM. The ACE also contains electronics
for time buffering. The body of the message con- necessary to interface with AACS spun-side
tains all the data to be transferred from the source peripheral elements, the despun electronics, and
t o the recipient. Data bus transfers are controlled the CDS. Interfacing between spun and despun
and conducted during specific RTI intervals during AACS elements is accomplished via rotary
each CDS minor frame (10 RTI intervals). Even- transformers located on the SBA.
numbered RTIs are used for bus messages to users, Other major functional elements of AACS in-
while odd-numbered RTIs are used t o collect data clude:
from users. For at least 10 ms of each RTI frame, 0 a radiation-hardened star scanner employing
inrernai CDS iraribaciioiis are accomplished. photor*iiltiplicr f=y gay field ideltifi;c.-
tion for in-flight attitude determination
Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem
0 linear actuators for raising or lowering the
The attitude and articulation control sub- RTG booms to reduce wobble and maintain
system (AACS) is responsible for maintaining spun stability
109
acquisition sensors for attitude determination, Major AACS performance parameters are
spin rate data during launch, and Sun acquisi- summarized in table 11.
tion
propulsion drive electronics to control the Probe
RPM latch valve, thrusters, and 400-N engine
valves The probe will be carried to Jupiter by the
Galileo orbiter and released o n a n entry trajectory
spin bearing assembly t o provide the
150 days before entry. A complement of seven
mechanical and electrical interfacing between
science instruments will measure the radiation field
the spun and despun sections of the orbiter as near Jupiter and the characteristics of the jovian
well as to provide despun orientation in clock atmosphere from a distance of about 5 Jupiter
degree-of-freedom motion radii above the 1-bar level down to levels in the 10
gyros mounted on the despun scan platform to 20-bar range. Probe data will be transmitted to
t o control platform articulation and stabiliza- Earth via the orbiter. This section discusses system
tion requirements and probe design features.
Development of the probe and relay radio
accelerometers mounted on the despun side
hardware (receiver and antenna mounted on the or-
diametrically opposite to each other and
biter to receive the probe's radio signal) is managed
aligned parallel to the orbiter spin axis to
by Ames Research Center. The Space and Com-
measure velocity changes during propulsive
munications Group of the Hughes Aircraft Com-
burns
pany is responsible for the design, fabrication, and
scan actuator subassembly to provide the scan test of this hardware. The General Electric Com-
platform cone actuation and positioning in- pany's Re-Entry Systems Division is the principal
formation. This subassembly contains a flex subcontractor and is responsible for thermal pro-
capsule consisting of 200 printed wire traces tection up through entry at Jupiter, the structure
for electrical interfacing between the scan plat- and heat shields for protection during entry, and
form instruments and the despun electronics. the probe separation and parachute systems.
After launch vehicle separation and RPM
pressurization, the AACS enters the all-spin mode,
Description
which is utilized many times during the mission.
The probe is composed of two major
This mode is used primarily for stabilization during
segments, the deceleration module and the descent
all propulsive maneuvers, in which the orbiter spins
module (fig. 74). The deceleration module includes
at roughly 3 rpm for IO-N thruster burns or 10 rpm
for 400-N engine burns. This mode is also used the heat shields, the structure that supports the
during science calibration target observations by heat shields, and the thermal control hardware for
the remote sensing science instruments. mission phases up through entry. The descent
module is the package that descends through the
For most of the mission, the AACS operates
in the cruise mode, in which the orbiter operates in jovian atmosphere by parachute while the prime
the dual-spin configuration with the spun section science data are gathered. It contains the science in-
inertially fixed. Major functions performed during struments and the probe subsystems required to
this mode are wobble control, high-gain antenna support the instruments and transmit the data back
pointing, attitude determination, and spin rate to the overflying orbiter, which serves as a relay to
control. Earth. The probe-to-orbiter adapter is supplied
The final AACS mode is the inertial mode. with the probe and designed and fabricated by
Transition to this mode is from the cruise mode General Electric.
with gyros active. While it is in this mode, the Deceleration Module
AACS performs functions such as closed-loop
commanded turns using the RPM thrusters, ac- Configuration. The entry configuration of
curate pointing and slewing of the scan platform, the probe is a 45" half-angle cone with a base
and closed-loop control for wobble angle compen- diameter of about 1.2 m. The radius of the
sation. spherically blunted tip is equal to about half the
110
Table 11. Major AACS Performance Parameters has the advantage of being essentially the same as
Parameter Value (3a) that of the Pioneer Venus probes. This similarity
reduced the need for basic aerodynamic testing,
pin rate 3.15 rpm since the Pioneer Venus data base was directly ap-
pin deadband 0.13 rpm plicable. The probe-to-orbiter adapter consists of
can platform slew rate 0 to 17.5 mrad/s three bipod assemblies that connect the probe to
can platform minimum step size 10 prad/s the orbiter.
Iommanded turn rate, maximum 3 mrad/s Heat Shields. Thermal protection during en-
can platform pointing accuracy 3.4 mrad try is provided by a carbon phenolic forebody heat
IGA antenna pointing accuracy, shield and a phenolic nylon afterbody heat shield.
X-band Although these materials have been used extensive-
Cruise 1.7 mrad
ly for Earth reentry vehicles, on the Galileo mission
All spin 2.5 mrad
they will be subjected t o environments never before
'otal AV pointing error experienced. For both the forebody and afterbody,
(calibrated) radiative transfer is the primary energy transport
400 N 5 mrad
10 N 9 mrad mechanism. An additional consideration included
:RH antenna pointing accuracy 35 mrad
in the final heat shield design is mechanical erosion
(spallation) of heat shield material.
Heat shield performance calculations were
ase radius. The general shape was selected to pro- done by very large and complex codes which in-
ide a minimum-weight probe, primarily because clude the detailed physics of the heating/ablation
lis allows more forward placement of the pressure process. These codes include detailed calculations
esse1 than d o more blunt vehicle shapes, leading to of the radiation from the hot atmospheric shock
iinimum base diameter and minimum ballast re- layer (14 000 K) and the absorption of this radia-
uired for aerodynamic stability. This shape also tion (blockage) in the boundary layer gases by
a
Figure 74. Probe configuration.
Deceleration
module a f t cover
- 125 cm L
Deceleration
module aeroshell
During descent
Prior t o and during entry
111
chemical species present. The unblocked heat operating temperatures for the probe unit and
transfer at the nose of the vehicles at peak heating science instruments within the range of -20 to
exceeds 42 kW/cm2. 50°C during descent. For a specific set of thermal
The forebody heat shield has two segments: a blankets, final RHU complement and nose
nosepiece fabricated from a billet of chopped emissivity (gold tape striping) are adjusted t o meet
molded carbon phenolic and a tape-wrapped the temperature requirements based on thermal
frustum section. These two sections are first bond- vacuum test results. The Probe Thermal Model
ed together, and then the whole heat shield is bond- Test Program resulted in a baseline of 39 RHUs.
ed to the structure. The final thickness, as shown in To minimize charging during passage through the
figure 75, includes the minimum margins required charged-particle environment at Jupiter, surfaces
on the predicted mass loss plus a layer of unablated are coated with conducting films and the layers are
material which serves as insulation to maintain the tied together electrically and grounded to the probe
bond line below the required limit (approximately structure.
645 K). The margin requirements range from 30 to Structure. The structure of the deceleration
45 percent at various stations along the body. module is made of aluminum alloys; the basic
These margins are required t o cover uncertainties assembly technique is riveting. This module con-
in heat shield performance, entry conditions, and sists of the payload support ring, an aft box section
atmospheric composition. The approximate mass ring, three longerons connecting the two rings, and
of the forebody heat shield is 145 kg, of which thin skin sections. The descent module entry
about 90 kg is expected t o be lost by ablation dur- deceleration loads are reacted primarily through
ing entry. This value includes mass loss resulting the payload support ring, and the module is held to
from spallation of solid heat shield material. the payload ring by three bolts passing through
Afterbody heating is also dominated by bolt catchers mounted in the longerons. At
radiative transport. A detailed calculation of the assembly, the interface of the descent and decelera-
base heating was made based on the flow-field con- tion modules is preloaded t o about 5000 kg to pre-
ditions at the end of the forebody and on a model vent relative motion between the modules during
of the expansion from this corner. Calculated max- launch. The aft cover is an aluminum dome with
imum heating rates over the aft end of the vehicle two longerons and two rings as primary structural
are in the 1 to 2 kW/cm* range. The afterbody heat elements. The ring at the base of the dome inter-
shield consists of two sections: the dome section faces with the forward aeroshell and is connected
covering the aft cover and a ring section covering through the two longerons t o the mortar support
the area between the cover and the edge of the for- ring at the top of the dome. A radio frequency win-
ward cone, Thicknesses were sized to prevent the dow is cut into the aluminum skin t o accommodate
aft structure from exceeding 477 K, thus maintain- the lightning and radio emission experiment. The
ing adequate aft cover structural strength at mortar cover is held in place by three explosive nuts and
firing and pilot parachute deployment. A margin bolts located 120" apart.
of over 50 percent on recession has been main-
tained over the afterbody. The aft heat shield Figure 75. Heat shield design.
thickness is shown in figure 75.
1 1 Imm Phenolic
Thermal Control. Prior t o entry, thermal
control of the probe is provided by a passive system
consisting of multilayer Mylar blankets covering
the aft end of the probe and a major portion of the
conical forebody, a complement of 1-W
radioisotope heaters (RHUs), and partial gold tap-
ing of the forebody nose to adjust the heat loss
through the unblanketed portion of the heat shield
(fig. 76). The design is governed by the requirement
that the probe temperatures during the coast phase
be maintained in the range of - 5 to 10°C. This
narrow band results from the requirements t o keep
112
ORlGlNAU PAGE
GQLQR PHOTOGRAPH
Parachute. The main parachute is used to cover, pulled through the wake by the pilot chute,
separate the descent and deceleration modules and in turn pulls out and strips the bag from the main
to control the rate of descent through the at- parachute. The deployment process, from initia-
mosphere. The canopy is a conical ribbon design tion through full opening of the main chute, is
chosen for its low aerodynamic trim characteristics designed t o take less than 2 seconds.
and low opening shock loads. The material for the
canopy and shroud lines is Dacron; Kevlar is used Descent Module
for the riser. The parachute diameter (projected) is
2.5 m, a value selected to guarantee separation of Figure 77 illustrates the main features of the
the probe in worst-case conditions, that is, the descent module. Most of the equipment is mounted
aeroshell structure without the forebody heat on a shelf; the aft side of this shelf is used primarily
shield. Nominal conditions at parachute deploy- for the science instruments. The probe radio fre-
ment are Mach 0.9 and a dynamic pressure of 6000 quency communication subsystem and the pyro-
N/m*. A swivel is used to decouple probe and technic control unit are located in the aft compart-
parachute spin. The pilot parachute is injected into ment; the main parachute, the lightning and radio
the wake by a mortar fired at a velocity of 30 m/s. emissions detector (LRD) antenna, and energetic
After the pilot chute is established, the separation particles instrument (EPI) sensor are located on
nuts are fired t o release the aft cover The aft top of this compartment. Note that in contrast to
NEP electronics
Thermal blankets
LRD
electronics
H AD interferometer
HAD electronic
Thermal blankets
Lithium
battery
modules
dioxide (Li-S02) battery and a set of thermal bat- cell so that the failure of one cell will not cause the
teries. The system power interface unit is the main loss of a n entire module. Open circuit voltage of
power distribution unit. It distributes power to the the battery is 39 V. The voltage drops to about 34 V
probe subsystems and to the instrument power in- with a 6-A load. Total battery capacity at manufac-
terface unit from either the probe battery or orbiter ture is expected to be about 21 A-h (about 730
power supply. The system power interface unit W-h), of which about 2.8 A-h will be used up by
provides redundant switching for all functions but ground tests and storage loss (around 5 years).
does not include voltage regulation of the input Probe mission requirements are for about 16.3
(voltage regulation is not required for probe units). A-h, leaving a capacity margin at the end of the
The instrument power interface unit, in addition to mission (defined as 48 minutes after entry) of 1.7
switching; provides both voltage regulation and A-h. The primary source of energy for pyrotechnic
overvoltage protection for instrument use. The events is a set of four thermal batteries.
main power supply for the probe mission is the Li- Pyrotechnic pulses for actuation of these batteries
SOz battery. This battery is made up of three and for neutral mass spectrometer functions later
modules of 13 D-size, high-rate cells. The cells are in the descent are provided by a tap on the main
:onnected in series with a bypass diode across each battery at the eighth cell.
115
Energetic
particle
instrument
Lightning
and radio
emission
detector
Atmospheric
structure
instrument
Helium
abundance
detector
LRDlEPl
optical sensor
Command and Data Handling Subsystem. self-test function is automatically activated once
The command and data handling subsystem con- about 20 minutes before entry; it checks the condi-
sists of the data and command processor, the tion of each string. If a fault is detected on one
pyrotechnic control unit, and four acceleration string that might affect the data on the other string,
switches (two redundant pairs). The data and com- the faulty string will be turned off and will then re-
mand processor is a micro-controller-based unit main off.
which provides and controls all system command, During the period from separation of the
telemetry, data storage, and timing functions. The probe and orbiter t o the end of the mission, the
design consists of two basically redundant strings, data and command processor operates in several
each controlled by its own microprocessor. All different modes. For the coast phase, only the
postentry functions, with the exception of some coast timer operates. Its purpose is to “wake up”
subcommutated engineering data, are contained the probe about 6 hours before entry. During the
and are the same on both strings. Preentry com- preentry period, one string is used to gather and
mand and data functions are divided between the store LRD and EPI data. Both strings operate
two strings and therefore are not redundant. The starting about 20 minutes before entry through the
116
end of the mission. The entire sequence from process are coarse frequency acquisition through
separation to the end of the mission, with the ex- the implementation of a sequential probability
ception of the magnitude of the time for the coast radio test; frequency synchronization, using a
phase, is contained in permanent memory. Entry frequency-lock loop; symbol synchronization, us-
and descent sequence functions are tied directly to ing a symbol-lock loop; ambiguity resolution; and
the atmosphere by the acceleration switches. The phase synchronization and signal tracking, using a
switches provide an adaptive parachute deploy- phase-lock loop. Uncertainties and signal perturba-
ment which removes uncertainties in deployment tions, including uncertainty in probe signal fre-
conditions associated with uncertainties in entry quency and spin rate, and nonsteady motion of the
angle and in the characteristics of the atmosphere. probe caused by wind shear, wind turbulence, and
The acceleration switches also provide backup in- nonsteady aerodynamics, make the design and test
itiation of the descent sequence in the event of early of these functions complex and difficult. The unit
or late time-out of the coast timer. must acquire the probe signal within 50 seconds,
The pyrotechnic control unit provides the with an acquisition probability of 0.995 and a false-
pulses for activating all squibs on the probe, except lock probability of less than 5 x lop5. Minimum
some functions internal to the neutral mass spec- strength a t acquisition is specified as 31 dB-Hz.
trometer. The unit includes arming relays and 48 The unit is required to track a signal strength as
hybrid drivers. The hybrid drivers are self- low as 26 dB-Hz. In addition t o providing probe
contained units which include a command buffer, data, the receiver measures received probe signal
an active current limiter, and a one-shot circuit, all strength and doppler rates for radio science use.
on a single substrate. They are designed for the The RRH antenna is a 1.1-m parabolic reflec-
NASA standard initiators used on the probe. All tor with a dual feed for receiving the two signals
probe pyrotechnic functions are implemented with from the probe. It is mounted on a deployable
redundant initiators. mechanism for storage at launch and for pointing
during the probe mission. This mechanism is pro-
Relay Radio Hardware vided by the orbiter. The antenna is mounted on
the despun (inertially fixed) part of the orbiter. To
The relay radio hardware (RRH) receivers, eliminate a possible catastrophic failure of the
ultrastable oscillators, and antenna (fig. 68) are probe mission as a result of failure of the orbiter
mounted on the orbiter to receive the probe signal. spin bearing, the antenna mounting mechanism is
The RRH receivers are a key element of the designed such that the antenna can be pointed
data link between the probe and the orbiter during along the orbiter’s spin axis.
the probe’s descent through the jovian atmosphere
and during probe checkout before separation from Mass
the orbiter. Each receiver is designed to acquire,
coherently track, and process the probe’s data The total mass of the probe is about 331 kg,
along with RRH radio science and engineering that of the probe adapters is 6.8 kg, and that of the
data. The receivers also format and buffer the data RRH equipment is 23.2 kg. Almost half of the total
for transmission to the orbiter command and data probe mass is dedicated to the heat shield, and the
system. The acquisition, tracking, and data- electronic units are considerably heavier than one
handling functions are performed by the would expect for standard spacecraft hardware
microprocessor-controlled section of the receiver. because they include hermetically sealed housing
The main functions in the acquisition and tracking designed t o withstand 20 bars.
117
ORIGINAL‘ PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
The scientific instruments aboard the Galileo spacecraft’s radio equipment will be used t o study
orbiter and probe have been carefully chosen and celestial mechanics and radio propagation.
designed t o reap as much knowledge of the Jupiter The remote sensing science instruments and
system as possible. Each will take unique their functions are:
measurements, yet many of their capabilities Solid-state imaging camera (SSI) -takes pic-
overlap t o provide maximum opportunities to tures from which horizontal and vertical at-
study the planet, its satellites, and the magneto- mospheric motions are measured and the geology
sphere. Galileo’s scientific investigations are and morphology of the satellites’ surfaces can be
designed t o complement and extend the wealth of determined.
knowledge provided by the Pioneers and Voyagers. Near-infrared mapping spectrometer
Along with the members of the science teams, who (NIMS) -measures reflected sunlight and heat
are specialists in their own fields, interdisciplinary emitted from Jupiter’s atmosphere to determine
scientists will use the data from several instruments composition, cloud structure, and temperature
t o test new theories and confirm new discoveries. profiles. It is also used to gather data for the study
As with all scientific forays, the unexpected finds of the chemistry and mineralogy of the satellites’
may be the most exciting, and we will learn to use surfaces.
the instruments in new and different ways to pur- Photopolarimeter-radiometer (PPR) - meas-
sue new avenues of inquiry. ures temperature profiles and energy balance of
Eleven scientific experiments aboard the or- Jupiter’s atmosphere and the planet’s cloud
biter will view Jupiter and its satellites for nearly characteristics and composition. It also measures
two years (fig. 79). The nonspinning portion of the the brightness, texture, and temperatures of the
orbiter provides a stable base for four remote sens- satellites’ surfaces.
ing instruments. These optical instruments are Ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS) - investigates
mounted on the movable scan platform with their the atmosphere of Jupiter above the cloud tops, ex-
apertures aligned along the same axis so that they plores and characterizes the atmosphere of the
view nearly the same areas. The spinning section of satellites, and measures Io’s torus.
the orbiter allows five instruments to view the en- The fields and particles instruments and their
tire sky to study magnetic fields and particles. The functions are:
119
PRECEDJNG PAGE BLANK NOT FILMED
Magnetometer
sensors
E-field sensor
>pun secrion
Plasma science
Ultraviolet spectrometer
Solid-state imaging
Radioisotope thermoelectric
module
mapping spectrometer
Despun
Magnetometer (MAG) -measures the mag- physical and dynamic properties of small dust par-
netic fields associated with Jupiter’s magnetic mo- ticles in the jovian system.
ment and the distortions of these fields due to the The radio experiments are:
presence of plasma and the interaction of the Radio frequency subsystem (RFS) -In con-
satellites. junction with Earth-based receivers and transmit-
Plasma instrument (PLS) - determines the ters, the RFS measures the doppler shift, echo time
properties of low-energy plasmas throughout the delay, amplitude, spectrum, and polarization of
jovian magnetosphere, including their tempera- the radio signals that comprise the Earth-orbit-
tures, densities, bulk motions, and composition. Earth telecommunications link. These measure-
Energetic particles detector (EPD) - investi- ments allow study of the gravitational fields of
gates the spatial distributions and temporal fluc- Jupiter, its satellites, and the Sun; the atmosphere,
tuations of ions and electrons, including ion com- ionosphere, and magnetic field of Jupiter; and
position, at medium and higher energies in the gravitational radiation from outside the solar
jovian system with an energy range contiguous to system.
that for the plasma instrument. Relay radio hardware (RRH) -measures the
Plasma wave instrument (PWS) - provides amplitude and doppler shift of radio signals from
identification and analysis of the radio and plasma the probe to the orbiter which can then be used to
waves in Jupiter’s magnetosphere, with the study the atmosphere and ionosphere of Jupiter.
capability of remote sensing of source location. The Galileo probe will plunge at high speed in-
Dust detection instrument (DDS) - surveys the to Jupiter’s atmosphere carrying six instruments
120
designed to discover as much as possible about the the spin axis, the rate of rotation, and the
atmosphere during the relatively short period of geometric figure to within 3 km. The scientific ob-
descent. These instruments are: jectives for satellite imaging are discussed in detail
Atmospheric structure instrument (AS1)- in chapter 3.
provides information about temperature, density, As opportunities arise, we will observe the
pressure, and molecular weight. smaller satellites to obtain information about their
Neutral mass spectrometer (NMS) -analyzes surface morphology, color, and albedo and seek
the composition of gases by measuring their small satellites in the vicinity of the jovian rings.
molecular weights. All four small inner satellites will be imaged at the
Nephelometer (NEP) - locates cloud layers in highest possible resolution t o improve our
the atmosphere and measures some of the knowledge of their sizes, shapes, colors, albedos,
characteristics of the particles making up the surface textures, and spin states.
clouds. Our objectives at Jupiter are to determine the
Energetic particles investigations (EPI) - energetics, structure, motions, and radiative prop-
measures electrons, protons, alpha particles, and erties of the atmosphere. Atmospheric mass mo-
heavy ions in the innermost regions of the jovian tions can be separated at global scales from at-
magnetosphere. mospheric wave motions. We will investigate the
Lightning and radio emission instrument vertical structure of a few specific types of at-
(LRD) -searches and records static generated by mospheric features and establish relationships be-
lightning flashes on Jupiter. tween structure, color, and morphology. Relative
Helium abundance interferometer (HAD) - cloud motions will help us to determine how winds
determines the important ratio of hydrogen to vary with altitude. This is especially important at
helium in the atmosphere of Jupiter. the boundaries between belts and zones and at the
region of probe entry. The radiative properties of
Net flux radiometer (NFR) - senses the dif-
ferences between the energy flux being radiated in- the jovian atmosphere will be investigated by
ward and outward at each level in the atmosphere. measuring how individual features scatter light at
several wavelengths and over a wide range of phase
These instruments are described in detail angles. Auroral phenomena in the atmosphere and
below. on the satellites will be mapped and correlated with
particle and field observations t o determine the
Orbiter nature of interactions of the atmosphere with the
magnetosphere.
Remote Sensing Science We will image the rings of Jupiter at the
highest possible resolution to find any satellites
Solid-state imaging (SSI). The scientific ob- that may be embedded in the rings. Also,
jectives of the solid-state imaging experiment are to photometric observations will determine color,
study satellite science, Jupiter atmospheric science, albedo, column densities, and the size distribution
magnetospheric interactions, jovian rings, and of ring particles.
targets of opportunity. The imaging experiments will cooperate with
For each Galilean satellite we aim to determine other investigations and observe objects such as
the morphology of at least 50 percent of the surface asteroids, satellites, and comets which are expected
at a scale of 1 km or better and of many selected to present special target opportunities during the
areas at 100 m or better. Also, the imaging system mission. The scientific objectives and the approach
will map the spatial variation in color and albedo at are discussed in detail in chapters 2 and 3 (satellite
a scale of 2 km or better and will monitor varia- objectives). The team leader for this experiment is
tions with time. The wavelength range of this Michael Belton of Kitt Peak National Observatory.
- -.-*- :---:-- --.- -+., . m-,."+nA
I I I M ~ I I I a~ y a c c i i i is iiiuuiiLcu w i i
-1- --1:>
camera extends into the infrared. -we wiii aiso 1 1lE: SUIIU->L~LC
n"
determine the photometric function at several loca- an articulating scan platform attached to the
tions and the photometric phenomena resulting nonspinning spacecraft bus so that the instrument
from interaction with the magnetosphere. For each can be pointed as required.
Galilean satellite, we hope to find the location of The instrument (fig. 80) is a single camera
121
ORlGIiSAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
Aperture Field
corrector Secondary corrector
elements mirror elements Filter
Primary
mirror ,,
\ b I Shutter
I 122
Drive
1 spring
ower arm
Latch
to keep the aperture covered. There are 28 select- The SSI has four operating modes, charac-
able exposure times between 4Y6 and 5 1 200 ms. terized by different frame repetition rates: 2 M,
The image sensor (fig. 83) is a virtual-phase, 8Y3, 30M, and 60% seconds. Each sequence con-
buried-channel, front-side-illuminated CCD. It sists of a prepare and a readout cycle. In the
uses a polysilicon gate structure with 15.2-pm prepare cycle the shutter is reset, the filter wheel is
center-to-center spacing between the photo stepped as required, the sensor is read to reduce
elements. It has an invariant geometry to ensure dark current, and the shutter is activated to expose
fidelity without complex geometric correction, and the image. The readout cycle converts the image
it requires only simple slope and offset tables for data to digital data, which are placed on the on-
calibration. A very high charge transfer efficiency board tape recorder or put directly on the telemetry
ensures a uniformly high mean time to failure over downlink for real-time transmission to Earth.
the entire array. The device has much greater spec- There is also a mode which sums groups of four
tral sensitivity than the vidicon cameras of the pixels, thus converting a n 800 by 800 image into a
Mariner, Viking, and Voyager spacecraft. 400 by 400 image which can be read out in a
quarter of the time and thus be less likely to suffer
Charge is transferred by switching the voltage from the effects of radiation in Jupiter's harsh en-
level of a gate. This is repeated 800 times in the vironment.
serial direction following each of the 800 transfers
in the parallel directions, thereby scanning all the Electrons with energies of about 10 MeV,
pixel elements in turn. To maintain a wide dynamic which can be encountered in the inner magneto-
range for the slow-scan camera system, thermally sphere, will interact with the silicon of the CCD to
induced CCD dark current must be suppressed. produce a mean charge of about 2000 electrons
This is done by cooling the CCD to 163 K by a concentrated within a few picture elements. To
closed-loop, heater-modulated, radiatively cooled protect the imaging system from radiation damage
temperature control system. Analog video data or the degradation of data during slow-scan
from the CCD are converted to 8 bits for serial out- readout of the images, 1-cm-thick tantalum
put to the telemetry system. shielding surrounds the CCD. The only open area
123
(Top view)
1 0.48" I
/
- Active
area
100
640 000
Picture
800 lines
03
t >
0 ._
c
>
._
4-
.-
u)
C
a,
u)
800 columns A
a,
I+ Serial >
._
-
c
video -
m
output g 1c
I.\ Vidicon
_tL Line transport register
I >
illumination
Jupiter reflectance
I
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1
Wavelength, prn
-
(Side view)
Galileo SSI channels
3 1 2 6 4 7 5
w - w H -
Figure 83. Arrangement of the pixel elements of the the spectral response at different wavelengths (right)
charge-coupled device of the solid-state t o illustrate the wide spectral coverage of this instru-
imaging system (left) and graph showing ment compared with a vidicon.
is that of the shutter aperture. This shielding, and the operational commands stored in the read-
together with the shielding effects of the structure only memory can be transferred to random-access
and optica! elements, is expected to ensure good memory with a single command should the read-
image quality for the longest readout of an SSI only memory fail. To enhance the return of image
frame (60% seconds) down to about 15 Jupiter data the SSI has a data compressor and uses a
radii from the planet. Inside about 11 Jupiter radii special coder t o provide virtually error-free data.
the instrument can be effectively operated only in The solid-state imaging system weighs 28 kg
the 2Y3-second mode. and consumes an average power of 17 W.
A microcomputer controls the instrument.
This computer receives image parameter words Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer
from the spacecraft's command and data sub- (NIMS). The near-infrared mapping spectrometer
system prior t o each exposure and issues all the (fig. 84) represents a new philosophy and approach
necessary instructions to the filter wheel and shut- in remote sensing experiments for planetary
ter drive electronics and other control electronics spacecraft by combining spectroscopic and imag-
of the instrument. Backup memories are available, ing capabilities in one instrument. The infrared
124
region of the spectrum is extremely useful for in- expected at about 270 K (at 2 and 5 bars, respec-
vestigating the geology of the jovian satellites and tively). Temperature profiles will also be obtained.
for probing the atmosphere of Jupiter. The experi- The high photometric sensitivity required of
ment objectives are to map and determine the this experiment is achieved by using a relatively
mineral content of compositional units on the sur- large telescope together with the most sensitive
faces of the jovian satellites and to investigate detector available for this region of the spectrum,
cloud properties and the temporal and spatial indium antimonide (InSb).
variability of minor constituents of the jovian at- The instrument is shown in figure 85. Major
mosphere. The objectives and approach are dis- elements are a telescope, an optical chopper, a
cussed in detail in chapters 2 and 3. The principal grating spectrometer, a multidetector focal plane
investigator is R. W. Carlson of the Jet Propulsion assembly, a passive radiator cooler, and signal
Laboratory. chain electronics a n d controllers for the
Both spatial coverage derived from a scanning mechanisms of the unit. Torque drive motors are
telescope and spectral coverage derived from a used for spatial scan and grating motion. Position
spectrometer are important to the goals of satellite is controlled by a linear differential transformer
and atmospheric studies. The NIMS experiment which senses the position and controls the torque
will spectrally map half of the surface of each of drive motor accordingly. A microprocessor pro-
the satellites Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto at a vides timing, formatting, and operational control
resolution of 25 km or better. In addition, it will over a variety of modes.
obtain spectra of Amalthea, Jupiter’s ring, and two The telescope is an all-refractive, 9-inch-
of the smaller satellites. In investigating the at- aperture Richey-Chretien with a focal length of 800
mosphere of Jupiter by observing the infrared mm and a n aperture of f/3.5. The telescope’s field-
radiation from it, NIMS will provide information stop aperture forms the entrance “slit” to the spec-
about the chemical composition, the nature of trometer section of the instrument. This is a n all-
clouds, energy balances, and atmospheric motions. refractive system consisting of a Dall-Kirkham type
Species that can be monitored with the NIMS collimator, a plane grating, and a wide-angle, flat-
experiment include ammonia, phosphine, water field camera. The collimator has a n equivalent
vapor, methane, and germanium. We will also focal length of 400 mm and a focal ratio of f/3.5.
search for other molecules so far undetected. A dual-blazed replicated grating with 40 lines/mm
Cloud layering will be studied; for example, am- provides high efficiency over the broad spectral
monia clouds are expected at a level at which the range. The dispersed spectrum is focused on the
temperature is about 200 K and water clouds are focal plane assembly detectors by the camera,
which has a focal length of 200 mm and operates at
f/1.75.
Figure 84. Near-infrared mapping spectrometer There are 15 indium antimonide detectors and
(NIMS). two silicon photodiodes, each placed to sample a
specific region of the spectrum. Reflectance losses
from the indium antimonide are minimized by an
overcoating. Optical filters limit scattered light and
background noise. These filters also have gold
masks deposited on them to limit the field of view.
The detectors are maintained in a hermetically
sealed package into which the infrared radiation
enters through a sapphire window. They are cooled
to approximately 80 K by a passive radiative cooler
of aluminum honeycomb which radiates energy in-
to space. Heat input to the assembly is kept very
iow by supporting it o n fibergiass bands and sur-
rounding it with a heat shield.
NIMS forms images from a combination of
the motion of its internal scan mirror and the mo-
tion of the scan platform upon which it is
125
f i 3 . 5 Telescope and spatial scanner Grating spectrograph
Primarv
126
ORIGINAL‘ PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
iounted. Each sample of the detectors (every 1/60 smooth motion of the scan platform is adjusted so
xond) gives 17-colocated 0.52-mrad samples that stripes of combs of a given wavelength just
venly spaced throughout the instrument’s overlap spatially. With reference to the image cube
ravelength range (0.7 to 5 pm). The scan mirror (fig. 86), a comb of wavelengths in the upper left
loves to 20 positions in 1/3 second, forming a ver- corner of the cube is sampled first, the comb just
cal stripe of samples (the stripe is 0.5 by 10 mrad). below it on the front face is sampled next, and so
’he grating steps each 1/3 second to provide on until the vertical stripe is formed. The grating is
nother “comb” of wavelengths just adjacent (in then stepped. This process continues until all
lavelength) to the previous comb. A full grating wavelengths extending back from the left column
ycle (12 steps) repeats each 4% seconds. Slow, have been sampled. By this time, scan platform
:onds
I 1
127
motion has carried the field of view to the second ment. Figure 89 identifies the working components
column, where the entire sample procedure of the instrument’s optics.
repeats. Figure 86 depicts the image(s) formed in 1 The primary optical path is a Dall-Kirkham
minute. During this time, the instrument has telescope with a 10-cm aperture and 50-cm focal
sampled an area 20 pixels high by 14 pixels wide (10 length. Radiation from Jupiter or a satellite passes
by 7 mrad) in 204 colors (wavelength planes). Ex- through a series of baffles, t o be reflected by the
tracting a “rod” lying behind any of the pixels on primary and secondary mirrors through a
the face of the image cube produces a spectrum of radiometric stop and a hole in the primary mirror.
a particular spatial area. Extracting a (spatial) face Radiation can also enter the instrument along an
from the cube gives the albedo characteristic of a alternate path through two radiometric stops,
spatial area at a given wavelength (an image). where it is reflected by a single mirror. The first set
The instrument weighs 18 kg and consumes 8 of optics is used to gather radiation from an object
W on the average. It has an angular resolution of being surveyed; the other collects radiation from
0.5 mrad square and a n angular field of 10 mrad space. These two optical paths meet at a chopper
(20 pixels) by 0.5 mrad (1 pixel). It covers the spec- which alternately admits radiation from the planet
tral range from 0.7 to 5.2 pm and completes a spec- or a satellite and from space for radiometry meas-
tral span in 4 % seconds. urements. When the instrument is being used for
photometry and polarimetry, only radiation corn-
Photopolarimeter-Radiometer (PPR). The ing along the primary path is admitted to the detec-
first objective of the photopolarimeter-radiometer tors.
experiment is to measure the intensity and polariza- Filters for several channels are mounted on a
tion in the visible regions of the spectrum of sun- filter wheel. This wheel carries mirrors, which are
light scattered by Jupiter and the jovian satellites in used in the radiometry mode to reflect light to a
ten narrow spectral regions. These regions include lithium tantalate detector. When the instrument is
the locations of the bands in the spectrum where being used for photometry, the beam passes
methane and ammonia strongly absorb radiation. through a filter and enters a Wollaston prism,
In addition, thermal infrared radiation from which diverts the two orthogonal polarizations to
Jupiter and the satellites will be measured in five two identical silicon photodiodes. By rotating the
broad, contiguous wavelength intervals. Radiation filter wheel among three adjacent positions with
received from the jovian atmosphere consists of identical filters behind a half-wave retarder for
solar radiation scattered and reflected by the at- each polarimetry channel, the polarization of the
mospheric molecules and particles, the thermal transmitted beam rotates through 90”. Because this
radiation emitted from the warmer lower atmos- effectively changes the roles of the two detectors,
phere, primarily from cloud particles, and
collision-induced molecular hydrogen transitions.
The final objective is to determine the radiation
budget of the planet and satellites by measuring the
total reflected solar radiation and the total thermal
emission. The principal investigator for this instru-
ment is J. E. Hansen of the Goddard Institute for
Space Studies. The scientific objectives for PPR
are described in detail in chapters 2 and 3.
The design of the instrument (fig. 87) is an ex-
tension of the orbiter cloud photopolarimeter
developed for and flown successfully on the
Pioneer Venus spacecraft. Reflective optics collect
light, which is passed through selective filters and
measured by detectors. Figure 88 is an exploded
view of the instrument and its housing. The latter
has three main parts - a telescope baffle, an aft op-
tics housing, and a stack of plates which provides a
mount for the electronics and a base for the instru- Figure 87. Photopolarimeter-radiometer
128
Space viewing telescope assembly Aft optics cover\
Chopper bracket
Sonant reflective
Access cover -
W
Pyroelectric detector assembly ki,k Dual preamp photodiode
Telescope assembly
Thermal isolator
, Processor 1 m n 11- ~
rr I
the orientation of the polarization of the incident wheel back and forth among the seven radiometry
beam can be determined. positions.
The polarimetry channels are centered at 4100, The photopolarimeter-radiometer has several
6780, and 9450 angstroms, and the photometry safety features. A replacement heater maintains
channels are centered at 6180, 6330, 6460, 7980, temperature when the power is off. Commandable
8300, 8410, and 8920 angstroms. When the instru- covers for each optical path protect the optical
ment is used for radiometry the infrared channels surfaces when the thrusters of the spacecraft are
are centered below 4 pm, at 17, 21, 27.5, and 37 fired. A sunshade prevents sunlight from entering
pm, and above 42 pm. Locations and approximate directly into the optical system.
width of all these channels in the electromagnetic The instrument weighs 4.8 kg and consumes a
s p e c t r u m a r e shm,.: :i figure 90. n n q G pn n, v. .vr rn br l nf
pbun l n \XI
V I 1" vv . \Xlhm" th- ir -~- lp
v v L I C I I LUC
- -i-a
mc- -~
+i i i ciica~ci
L.i--*i--~
Modes of operation include a cycle mode only is operating, the instrument consumes 4.5 W.
which rotates the filter wheel in one direction only
so as to transmit each channel at least once every 18 Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS). The ultra-
seconds and a radiometry mode which rotates the violet spectrometer (fig. 91) is designed to obtain
129
Figure 89. Filter and sensor system of the
photopolarimeter-radiometer.
spectra from 1150 to 4300 angstroms to determine and sulfur at wavelengths beyond the capabilities
the characteristic properties of the jovian at- of previous spacecraft. The scientific objectives are
mosphere and the surfaces of the Galilean satellites discussed in more detail in chapters 2 and 3.
and to obtain emission spectra t o study the plasma The ultraviolet spectrometer was developed at
torus of Io and aurorae and dayglow in the jovian the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
atmosphere, Properties of the high atmosphere of (LASP) of the University of Colorado, The prin-
Jupiter to be determined by the ultraviolet spec- cipal investigator is C. W. Hord of LASP.
trometer include the molecular absorption features The instrument consists of four sections: a
that may be characteristic of the colored clouds telescope, monochromator, three detectors, and
and auroral zone emissions arising from the bom- control logic. A cutaway view of the instrument is
bardment of the high atmosphere by energetic par- shown in figure 92.
ticles. We will also observe airglow emissions from The 250-mm-aperture Cassegrain telescope
the jovian atmosphere. For the satellites, the in- coupled with the exit slits to the spectrometer pro-
strument will determine the ultraviolet reflective duces a field of view of 0.1 by 1.4" for the 1100 to
properties of the surface that help to characterize 1900 and 2800 to 4300 angstrom detectors and a
surface materials and their physical state -ice, field of view of 0.1 by 0.4" for the 1600 to 3000
frost, and size of grains. We will attempt to detect angstrom detector. Thus, the telescope can sample
atomic hydrogen, atomic oxygen, and nitrogen ultraviolet radiation coming from a relatively small
from the Galilean satellites to determine how these region of the atmosphere of Jupiter or a satellite
planet-sized bodies continue t o evolve through the surface.
loss of volatile gases. To satisfy our third major ob- A reflecting diffraction grating of a 125-mm
jective, investigating the plasma torus of Io, we will focal length Ebert-Fastie monochromator disperses
look for emissions from multiply ionized oxygen the ultraviolet light. The position of the grating,
130
and thus the wavelength of the radiation being is mounted at the end of the magnetometer boom
measured, is controlled by a programmable grating about 10 m from the spin axis of the spacecraft
drive which is directed by the control logic of the (fig. 79). A second set covering the range from
instrument. Ruled at 2400 grooves/mm, the 512 to & 16 384 nT is mounted on the boom about
grating provides a resolution of 13 angstroms in the 6.7 m from the spin axis. For a benchmark, the
first-order spectrum and 7 angstroms in the magnitude of the magnetic field at Earth’s surface
second-order spectrum. is about 50 000 nT.
Three photomultipliers cover the wavelength The sensor electronics produce an analog
range from 1100 to 4300 angstroms. Photons strik- voltage that is linearly proportional to the sensed
ing the photomultipliers produce pulses which are magnetic field. The data system converts this
counted, and every 0.0007 second the counters are
read and the number of counts is transmitted to
Earth. Wavelength ( y m )
A microprocessor controls the detectors and
the grating drive to give the flexibility of a large
variety of data-taking programs. At one extreme PPR filtered thermal bands
the instrument can be programmed to sample one
fixed wavelength and look for changes in intensity
as the field of view moves across the planetary
disk. At the other extreme a program allows the in- I
Y
strument to step to a new wavelength every 0.007
second, producing a spectrum of the planet’s radia- 140
tion in about 4% seconds. Variations between
these extremes can be commanded. The instrument
consumes 5.33 W at 2.4 kHz and 50 Vac. Its total
Filter intervals
weight is 5.33 kg.
100
Particles and Fields Instruments
--
The major objectives of Galileo’s particles and 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
fields instruments are t o seek a n understanding of Frequency (cm - )
the sources of the jovian plasmas and to ascertain
which particles originate from the ionosphere, the 1.2
solar wind, and the satellites alone or in combina-
tion; to study the plasma interaction with the 1.o
R Photometry filter
satellites; and to investigate the structure and time R Polarimetry filter
.8
variability of the Io torus, the jovian radiation
belts, the plasma disk, the current sheet, and other
structural features of the magnetosphere. In addi-
-z
._
g .6
a,
4-
Control loaic -
.-
2”
* I
i I # Detector head
ir
J
7
Monochromator
Telescope
I
Figure 91. Ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS).
Optics
Ebert
Telescope assembly mirror
7 f - Baffles /
// r Grating \ I
Light shade
132
voltage to a digital signal with 16 bits of resolution. tions. This can be done for the two sensors
This system is controlled by a microprocessor and mounted in the spin plane but not for the sensor
provides for data sampling, storage, averaging, that is mounted parallel to the spin axis. The offset
and transmittal to the spacecraft system. This for this sensor is determined by mechanically
microprocessor allows not only great flexibility in rotating it into the spin plane, thus interchanging it
selecting instrument modes but also a large im- with one of the others. The dual magnetometer
provement for the information telemetered t o locations, mid-boom and end-of-boom, allow for
Earth. The system processes data in two primary first-order correction for the simple dipole compo-
modes. In the first, the data processor samples and nent of locally generated magnetic fields and how
averages data in even increments of time and stores they vary over time or as a result of other
packets of data in a buffer memory for transfer to spacecraft activities.
the spacecraft system. In the second mode, the data Because the magnetometer boom is not rigid
processor spin demodulates the data by resolving it and may twist and bend by several degrees, precise
into X, Y, and Z coordinates and then stores the alignment of the sensors to the spacecraft coor-
data for transmittal to the spacecraft system. In dinate system is determined by a calibration coil
either mode each packet of data contains three sets mounted rigidly to the spacecraft t o provide a
of vectors formulated into 16-bit words and one known magnetic field of + 3 nT at the outboard
16-bit subcommutator word. The spin-demodu- sensor. The principal investigator for this instru-
lated data and status information is formulated in- ment is Margaret G. Kivelson of the University of
t o a subcommutator word. A third mode, for op- California at Los Angeles.
timum averaging, averages the spin-demodulated
data over long periods and stores them within the Plasma (PLS). The plasma instrument (fig.
instrument. This mode of operation is used when 94) includes two sets of electrostatic spherical-
the orbiter is not transmitting or recording data. section analyzers. Almost all the angles for particle
Short periods of high-speed data may be taken, velocity vectors at the spacecraft position are
stored, and read out using the same data buffer sampled. Electrons and positive ions are measured
, used for optimal averaging by putting the instru- separately and simultaneously. The energy/unit
ment into a fourth, snapshot, mode of operation. charge range is 1.2 to 50 400 V and is divided into
A fifth, or idle, mode is used to prevent the micro- 64 passbands. In addition, three miniature mass
processor from erroneously using program infor- spectrometers are positioned at the exit apertures
mation while the program portion of random ac- of the electrostatic analyzers t o identify the com-
cess memory is being changed by command from position of ions. The location of the instrument on
Earth. the spacecraft is shown in figure 79.
For comparison with previous measurements
Magnetic field measurements are filtered at Jupiter, the energy/unit charge ranges of the
digitally to increase the resolution of measurements Pioneer and Voyager plasma instruments are 100
from 12 t o 16 bits. The data processor spin to 4800 V and 10 to 5920 V, respectively. The cor-
demodulates the data from the transverse responding range of the Galileo plasma analyzer is
magnetometers and provides two data words that 1 to 50 000 V. This extended energy range spans
represent the magnitude of the magnetic field com- the important energy gap between 5920 and 30 000
ponents in phase and in quadrature with the roll V in the combined performances for the Voyager
angle information provided by the attitude control plasma instrument and medium-energy particle
system of the spacecraft. This provides measure- detectors. Temporal resolutions for obtaining elec-
ments in two space-fixed directions in the spin tron and positive ion spectra are about 200 seconds
plane. for the Pioneer analyzer (ions only) and about 100
Measurement offsets arising from magnetic seconds for the Voyager Faraday cups. The cor-
fields generated by the spacecraft or the electronics responding temporal resolution for the Galilean
are determined by averaging the magnetometer plasma analyzer is 5 seconds; complete three-
data over several spin periods. All natural fields be- dimensional velocity distributions for positive ions
ing modulated by the spin of the spacecraft will, if and electrons can be telemetered once each 20
measured when the spacecraft has rotated 180", seconds. These improved temporal resolutions are
statistically combine to give zero over many rota- particularly important during the fast encounters
133
ORIGINAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
optimize the operating lifetime of the sensors. In provides high-resolution data from each telescope.
addition, there are two RCA 1802 microprocessors The telescope of the composition measurement
in the data-handling unit. Only one microprocessor system transmits 4.5 pulse-height anlyzer events
is used to operate the entire instrument at a given per second. Every 4.6 seconds, the pulse-height
135
Protective telescope, coupled with a 2.7-mm platinum ab-
71 Electrostatic sorber, is used to define additional electron, pro-
ton, and alpha particle channels by coincidence
and anticoincidence logic circuits. A n 800-gauss
magnet is used t o focus electrons in the range 0.015
through 1.O MeV into the two detector pairs of the
magnetic electron spectrometer. In each pair a
back detector provides active anticoincidence
shielding. The energy ranges covered are 0.015
through 0.2 MeV and 0.1 through 1.O MeV. Higher
ion and electron energies are covered with a heavily
shielded detector pair.
The composition measurement system's
telescope has a three-parameter, solid-state detec-
From current tor system consisting of nine detectors which are
used t o measure with high resolution the composi-
tion, energy spectra, and pitch angle distributions
of energetic ions in the jovian magnetosphere. At
the 180" end of the telescope are three thin (2 and 5
amplifieridiscriminator
pm) detectors (Ja, Jb, and Jc). Another detector, K,
measures the rear total energy and the time of
flight of particles between front and rear detectors,
thus allowing much more accurate composition
instrument
measurements in the low-energy range. It also pro-
vides a better background rejection, thereby allow-
ing composition measurements to be made much
closer to Jupiter. Another detector, L, mounted
behind the rear time-of-flight detector is used for
anticoincidence detection. The remainder of the
detectors on the 0" end form a much larger con-
figuration looking in the direction opposite t o the
time-of-flight configuration and are identical in
\-
\\\ /
type and function to those on the 180" end.
power
from orbiter When operating, the instrument is controlled
with great flexibility by two microprocessors. In
normal operation the d a t a are divided into
igure 95. Plasma instrument exploded view. azimuthal sectors of 6 to 24" at the nominal spin
rate of 3 rpm. After each rotation of the
spacecraft, the stepping platform rotates the
analyzer is switched to the low-energy magnetos- telescope 30.6" in cone angle so that the flux of
pheric measuring system t o accumulate a 47-chan- particles from every direction is covered each 140
ne1 ion or electron spectrum. seconds, approximately. In low-flux environments
The low-energy magnetospheric measuring within the jovian magnetosphere the low-energy
system includes an ion telescope with two solid- detectors will be active. In the middle magneto-
state detectors and a magnetic electron spec- sphere the composition measurement system will
trometer with two sets of detectors t o measure the alternate between low and high energy every 1%
energy and angular distribution of low-energy par- seconds, and in very high flux regions only the
ticles in the jovian magnetosphere. One detector of high-energy range will be active.
the ion telescope covers the energy range 0.02 The principal investigator for this experiment
through 3.4 MeV. This is the primary low-energy is Donald J . Williams of the Applied Physics
ion detector. The other detector used with this Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins University.
136
Plasma Wave Subsystem (PWS). The
plasma wave experiment provides measurements of
the spectral characteristics of electric and magnetic
fields in the frequency range 5 Hz to 5.65 MHz.
c, t
I
'
- e
' B O
'
200
I q90
Spacecraft
These time-varying fields are called plasma waves spin axis
and arise from instabilities in the electron and ion 540
/
populations in the jovian magnetosphere. The in-
strument uses a n electric dipole antenna to deter- ,63O
mine the electric field spectrum of plasma and
radio waves over the frequency range from 5 Hz to
5.6 MHz and two search coil magnetic antennas to
determine the magnetic field spectrum from 5 Hz
to 160 kHz. _.89.8O
-
90.2O
The plasma wave instrument is an improve-
ment over earlier instruments flown in the Earth's
magnetosphere and to the outer planets. Nearly
simultaneous measurements of the electric and
magnetic field spectra allow us t o distinguish elec-
trostatic waves from electromagnetic waves. Im-
provements in receiver technology give better fre-
quency resolution over a wider frequency range.
Also, the spinning of the spacecraft permits the use
of a radio direction-finding technique to determine
. --
the locations of radio sources. 180° 1670
The sensors consist of one 6.6-m tip-to-tip M 1 , M2, M3: Ion mass
electric dipole antenna for detecting electric fields spectrometers
and two search coil magnetic antennas for detect-
ing magnetic fields. Accommodations on the 1-7: Pairs of positive ion
and electron sensors
spacecraft for these antennas are shown in figure
79. The electric antenna consists of two graphite Figure 96. Fields of view for the plasma instrument.
epoxy elements tapering from 2.0 cm in diameter at
the base to 0.4 cm at the tip. The elements are
mounted at the end of the magnetometer boom
perpendicular to it and approximately 10.6 m from the high-frequency sensor is also perpendicular to
the spin axis of the spacecraft. Preamplifiers are the axis of the electric antenna, and the low-
contained in a housing at the base of the dipole frequency sensor is parallel to the electric antenna
elements. Differential charging effects are kept low axis. A preamplifier mounted near the search coil
by a 250-megohm resistor connecting the antenna provides a low-impedance signal to the main elec-
element to the spacecraft ground. tronics.
The search coil magnetic antenna consists of Onboard signal processing takes place within a
two high-permeability rods, 26.6 and 27.5 cm long, main electronics package mounted near the base of
mounted on the high-gain antenna feed. One is op- the magnetometer boom. Signals from the antenna
timized for the frequency range 10 Hz to 3.5 kHz and the search coils are processed by four main
and the other for 1 t o 50 kHz. The winding on the elements: a low-frequency spectrum analyzer, a
low-frequency search coil is 50 000 turns of medium-frequency spectrum analyzer, a high-
0.07-mm-diameter copper wire; that on the high- frequency spectrum analyzer, and a wideband
frequency coii is 2000 turns of 0. i4-mm-diameter
..
.n. ,,c,,,
WaVLIuIIII
..,.,.,.:.
IGLGIVGI.
,-"
copper wire. The two search coils are mounted at Several modes of operation and methods of
right angles to each other t o minimize electric data transfer can be selected by ground command.
coupling between sensors. Both sensors are The high-frequency spectrum analyzer is always
mounted perpendicular to the spacecraft spin axis; connected to the electric antenna; the medium- and
137
ORlGiNAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
Platinum
Jb Jc JC
CMS elescope
LEMMS Telescope
Charge pulse
1
I
7%-
I T p I
Entrance grid OV 1
............................. Channeltron signal
....................... I
I
1
I I
I
I
I
-350 V
L- tpe “1
I
QE I
I
I
Electron pulse 7
Hemisphere \ QE
(electron collector) OV
in diameter, wound over glass insulation on a 16-bar level. For the secondary sensor these times
frame of platinum-rhodium alloy. The secondary range from 0.3 second at deployment to 0.08 sec-
sensor is a 1-cm-long by 0.25-mm-diameter wire ond at the lower level. The accuracy is expected to
laid down on a raster over a glass film and covered be about 1 K.
by a glass film on the leading quadrant of the sen- The pressure sensor has t o cover a wide range
sor support frame’s outer member. The frames are from 0.1 to 16 bars by means of several sensors
made of platinum-rhodium alloy t o match the ther- with ranges related approximately geometrically -
mal expansion coefficient of the sensing elements 0.5, 4, and 28 bars. The first two operate during
and to avoid resistance changes due to thermal the period in which the probe is descending to a
strain. The glass coatings match the thermal expan- pressure level of 4 bars. They are read alternately
sion coefficient of platinum. for accuracy checks and redundancy of this
The support stem is a low-conductivity, thin- important data. Below the 4-bar pressure level, on-
walled tube of stainless steel which limits conduc- ly the 28-bar range sensor is used.
tion from the probe to the sensor. Two sensor types were available for use on
The temperature range is 0 to 500 K, which Galileo: those used earlier on the missions to Mars
permits measurements to continue if the probe’s and Venus, both of which gave excellent results.
mission extends below the 16-bar level of the The Viking type was selected because it
nominal mission where the temperature is expected demonstrated high reliability by returning data
to be 400 K. Response times for the primary sensor from the martian surface for several years.
range from 16 ms at deployment to 5 ms at the Pressure is sensed by the deflection of a thin
142
stainless steel diaphragm which is 1.5 cm in g and to be accurate within about 100 parts per
diameter. million t o permit accurate reconstruction of the en-
The deflection is measured by changes in try trajectory. Sensors developed by industry for
reluctance of the air gap between the diaphragm the missile program met most requirements but re-
and the central pole piece of a magnetic circuit of quired further development to meet the high-g
which the diaphragm is a part. loads which could result if the entry angle of the
Two circuits are used, one on either side of the probe became steeper than expected in a colder-
diaphragm, and the inductances which they affect t han-expected j ovian atmosphere.
oppositely are coupled to produce a signal propor- A test mass is free to rotate about a flexural
tional to the deflection of the diaphragm. This sen- hinge under the action of an imposed acceleration.
sor has high inherent stability. Its measurements A coil wound on the test mass carries a current
are repeatable within 0.1 percent of full scale on which is proportional to the acceleration and is
each range. Zero offsets will be checked periodical- generated by the sensor servo electronics. This cur-
ly on the trip to Jupiter, and the accuracy goal is rent interacts with the field of a permanent magnet
0.5 percent of the reading. t o produce a restoring force to oppose the motion
The axial accelerometers are also required to of the test mass. The servo electronics adjusts the
cover a wide range from one-millionth of a g to 400 current to hold the test mass in a nearly fixed, null
Figure 101. As part of the radio propagation experiments, the scattering and refraction of radio waves from the orbiter
will be used to study the atmosphere and ionosphere of Jupiter. Similar experiments will be attempted on
satellite atmospheres and waves and the rings of Jupiter. The radio waves from the probe will also be used
to study the atmosphere and ionosphere of Jupiter, with the signal source inside the atmosphere and the phase
and amplitude comparator onboard the orbiter instead of on Earth.
Refractive - Scattering
Scatterometer
( e # 0)
&
1
I/
y+ - - _- - - - - - _
Virtual
image
ei ( w t- kz)
Refractometer
(e = 0)
- Actual
location
\
Signal source
\
V
Test cell
Free space: ko = 2 T / h
Refractive medium: k = ko( I-( -iX)
/ - Phase and
amplitude
comparator
143
position, thereby permitting the sensor to have an Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS)
output which is close to perfect linearity. Position
is sensed by capacitive pickoffs and is held constant Despite intense efforts by observers and
to within a few milliradians. The current in the test theoreticians, the gross composition of the jovian
mass coil is read to measure the acceleration. The atmosphere is not accurately known. The primary
sensor is depicted in figure 104. objective of the probe’s neutral mass spectrometer
There are two axial sensors, each having four (fig. 105) is to determine the abundances and
ranges with full-scale values of 0.0125, 0.4, 6.4, isotope ratios of major constituents as a function
and 410 g. The sensors are read alternately at inter- of altitude to a high degree of accuracy. We will
vals of 5/16 second during the entry of the probe also search for trace constituents. The instrument
into the atmosphere and at 8-second intervals dur- was developed by the Goddard Space Flight
ing the descent, when the acceleration is averaged Center, and the principal investigator is H. B.
for each sensor over the 16-second interval Niemann of Goddard.
preceding the reading. There are also two lateral To enhance the range of measurements, the
sensors which are vectorially combined to obtain basic sample inlet system is supplemented by three
the acceleration normal t o the axis of the probe, selective subsystems: a noble gas purification cell
which is read once each second during probe entry. and two enrichment cells for the more complex
During descent, three values are read every 16 compounds.
seconds: the average, the minimum, and the max- The inlet system, which is shown schematically
imum values during the sampling interval. in figure 106, consists of two fully self-contained
The acceleration measured by the prime axial units which operate in sequence as the probe
sensor and the acceleration normal to the probe’s descends through the atmosphere. Both units con-
axis are used to measure the statistics of departure tain a high-pressure flow system with gas inlets
from the mean value at plus or minus four levels of placed near the apex of the probe and exit ports
departure axially and at four levels in the resultant placed at the minimum pressure point inside the
normal acceleration channel. Such data will be probe. For design purposes, the ambient pressure
used to analyze the influences of atmospheric tur- at the exit was assumed as the worst condition ex-
bulence on motion of the probe. pected during the mission. The pressure difference
Figure 102. When the spacecraft is on the far side of the Sun from Earth, the radio signals which pass close to the Sun
are deflected and provide information about the structure of space. At the same time, the signals pass through
the solar corona and provide information about conditions there.
144
of about 6 mbar between the stagnation point and
the low-pressure point causes a flow past the
pressure-reducing leaks. Inlet and outlet ports are
sealed by metal-ceramic devices and kept under
vacuum prior to entry. After entry they are opened
in sequence by redundant pyrotechnic actuators.
A small fraction of the gas flowing through
the high-pressure flow system is conducted through
the pressure-reducing leaks into the ionization
region of the ion source. The leaks, which are ar-
rays of micrometer-sized glass capillaries (typically
seven capillaries per leak), have conductances
chosen so that the pressure in the ion source does
not exceed mbar. The sample enrichment
system is an integral part of the high-pressure flow
system. Atmospheric gas, after passing by the
capillary leak, is also conducted to enrichment
cells, which contain getters that, when activated,
chemically bind reactive gases during the measure-
ment sequence and thus allow a pure noble gas
analysis. The cells are packed with gas-absorbing
compounds chosen t o absorb trace gases such as
hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and phosphine and
Primary sensor
complex hydrocarbons. Gases absorbed by the cells
17% Turns of 0.1 mm diameter platinum wire
are released by a programmed heating cycle during 13.9R a t 273 K
descent of the probe. During these cycles the cells
are isolated from the main flow system by /
solenoid-operated microvalves and are connected 7-
through separate capillary leaks to the ionization 1.8 cm
region. 1
Two independent leaks are employed for
enriching the sample. These, and the first direct
leak, can be isolated from the ion source redundant
ball closures to prevent the ion source pressure
from exceeding its optimum value, and to permit
repeated observation of system background
pressure after the initial sampling and enrichment Probe boundary Probe surface
sequences are completed. The second independent layer
Mounting ring
Flat washer
-
m,
I
TOP
covei
Wave washer
Coil form
Spring
and wire assembly
er
Travel spacer
cnlq
4-2 b2.3
Amplifier/
Fill tube assembly
demodulator Magnet housing
assembly
Space filler
-
Bottom
cover
Sensor
146
ORIGINAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
when the probe reaches a pressure level of about closure is shut and the ion source and analyzer sec-
100 mbar. Approximately 1 second later the first tion of the mass spectrometer are evacuated t o
outlet breakoff is opened, allowing ambient gas background level via two more getters and a sput-
from Jupiter’s atmosphere to flow past the ter ion pump.
capillary leak, through which a small fraction is Mass spectra are obtained during pump-down
conducted into the ion source. time to record the remaining background gases.
While the direct analysis is made other valves The noble gases subsequently introduced into the
are opened for a nominal 2 minutes to allow am- ion source through a leak are analyzed for approx-
bient gas to flow through the enrichment cell until imately 1.5 minutes. During this time the enrich-
its getter is saturated with hydrogen and the getter ment cell is heated, the gases absorbed are de-
housing volume is filled with gas. Next, two of the sorbed, and, after opening another valve, they are
valves are closed as another valve opens and the re- added to the noble gases flowing though the leak
maining gas, mostly hydrogen, is absorbed by into the ion source. After about 1.5 minutes of
another getter. Remaining in the enclosed volume analysis of these gases the ball closure is shut and
are the noble gases and some hydrogen whose par- the mass spectrometer is pumped once more to
tial pressure is determined by the equilibrium vapor background pressure level so that the partial
pressure of the hydrogen dissolved in one of the pressure of the background gases can be measured
getters. In the third step two valves are closed and with the mass spectrometer. The first inlet system is
the other opened to introduce a fraction of the gas now completely isolated from the mass spec-
in the volume enclosed by four valves, through a trometer, and the sequence is repeated for the sec-
leak into the ion source. ond inlet system, for which a separate noble gas
Prior t o opening of one of the valves, a ball cycle is not intended.
The ion source (fig. 107) uses electron impact
ionization in a miniature, dual-filament configura-
tion. The second filament is turned on automatical-
ly should the first filament burn out or break. A
vrotechnic actuator collimated electron beam is directed through the
or inlet breakoff Gas inlet ionization region past the capillary leak. The
housing
energy of the beam is varied to permit species to be
identified and discriminated by observing spectra
of fragmentation patterns at several different elec-
tron energies. Chemical reactions of gases o n the
surface of the hot filament are kept low by isola-
tion through narrow slits and by separate pumping
of the filament region. lons are focused into the
mass analyzer for filtering. The importance of
minimizing gas-surface interactions in the high
vacuum side requires that the ion source be a very
compact and integral part of the sample inlet
system.
A quadrupole analyzer filters the ion beam
produced by the ion source, transmitting ions of a
chosen charge-to-mass ratio only. The selected ion ,
beam is focused o n a secondary electron multiplier
ion detector. The quadrupole mass filter was
Titanium housing chosen in preference to a magnetic sector spec-
I...^””. ,..--.I\
\~)IGOa”IILG”, trometer because of its iignt weigh, versatiiity,
high resolution, and simplicity. The only dimen-
-1 18.4 cm ___c(
sionally critical element in the system is the preci-
sion rod assembly, whose rigid and compact design
‘igure 105. Neutral mass spectrometer (NMS). has proved to be extremely stable. The normal
147
mass range covered is from 1 to 52 A M U (atomic surfaces. The effective pumping speed for helium is
mass units) with occasional mass sweeps of 1 to 150 usually low because of the low ionization cross-
AMU. section of helium and the requirement that helium
The pumping system establishes a flow of be buried physically in the pump elements since it
sample gas through the ion source at a particular does not become chemically bound or go into solu-
pressure when a sampling device is opened, and tion as does hydrogen. This requires sputtering of
after analysis and closure, it removes the sample comparatively large amounts of cathode material,
from the ion source region. Nonevaporable getters which tends to release large quantities of gases
and sputter ion pumps are used because of their previously entrapped in the pump surfaces. Thus,
simple adaptation to spaceflight systems. They de- to eliminate the synthesis of hydrocarbons in the
pend only on electrical power for their operation sputter pump, a cascaded pump system is used.
and do not have moving parts. The application to The high-capacity getter pump is located
the probe mass spectrometer required care, because ahead of the sputter ion pump. The gas flow from
hydrogen and helium are the major gases in the the mass spectrometer into the getter pump is con-
jovian atmosphere. While hydrogen is absorbed at ductance limited t o maintain a constant pumping
a very high rate by getter materials, helium absorp- speed during the measurement phase. Hydrogen
tion is practically nil. Sputter ion pumps also pump and all reactive gases are absorbed in the getter
hydrogen with high efficiency, but hydrocarbons before they reach the sputter pump. Helium is the
are synthesized in the pump by reactions of only major gas to be pumped by the sputter pump.
hydrogen ions with carbon trapped on the pump Gases emitted by the pump pass the getter
Figure 106. Inlet systems for atmospheric samples by the neutral mass spectrometer.
Gas flow
Secondary electron
multiplier
a I n I L = Capillary leak
V = Microvalve
148
before they can enter the mass spectrometer, and essed by a logic system. The primary measurement
their contribution to the ion source gas is therefore is stored in an output register for interrogation by
significantly reduced. Small sputter pump in- the spacecraft’s telemetry system.
stabilities, not fully avoidable with the present state The instrument is under the control of a pro-
of technology, are buffered by the preceding getter grammer which is a n array of read-only memory
chamber. A drawing of the instrument is shown in (ROM) devices. During each of 8192 0.5-second in-
figure 108. tervals each of six instrument variables, including
The electronic system for the mass spec- mass number, ionization energy, and inlet system
trometer is based on concepts developed for configuration, can be configured to any allowable
previous spaceflight applications. Power com- state. Mass number selection in a quadrupole is a
mands and timing events are accepted and proc- function of amplitude and frequency of the radio
Figure 107. Ion source for the probe’s neutral mass spectrometer.
I
149
Ceramic
tube ;;r)
breakoff
Protective
I
Probe
center line
I cover \ I
Probe
shell
I
\_Battery and
3 DCP area
1 Inlet bag line
, 2 5 0 0. D. X , 0 2 0 wall
nickel tube
‘-.- Sputter
Pump
support
r PmrzKting
shelf
15
I I Instrument
I housing
I
I
Lower
section
I 1 I
Il l
I
I
I I
Sleeve
Preamplifier
L7.250 diameter
frequency signal applied to the rods. Two frequen- It consumes 25 W on the average, of which 12 W
cies are used: one to cover the mass range 0.5 t o 20 are needed for the pumps and heaters.
AMU and the other to cover the range 20 t o 150 Nephelometer (NEP)
- -
AMU. Mass number is uroDortiona1 to the
amplitude of the radio frequency signal. The in- The nepholometer experiment (fig. 109) is
strument has constant resolution over the total designed t o make in situ measurements of cloud
mass range. structure and t o determine the character of the par-
The total weight of the instrument is 11.8 kg. ticles in the main clouds and in the atmosphere of
150
ORIGINAL PAGE
COLOR PHOTDGRAPH
Jupiter as the probe descends through it. A solid (ice). The principal investigator for this ex-
knowledge of the physical properties of cloud par- periment is Boris Ragent of Ames Research Center.
ticles, including their size, number density, and op- The instrument consists of an optical unit and
tical parameters such as the index of refraction, is an electronics unit. The optical unit has a forward
essential to an understanding of the energy balance scatter unit immediately aft of a backward scatter
of the planet. Since the interaction of light with the unit. The forward scatter unit protrudes radially
particles is influenced by these properties, the from the probe's skin, while the edge of the
nephelometer experiment, which measures the backward scatter unit is flush with the skin.
light-scattering properties of particles, will yield The forward scatter unit consists of transmit-
valuable information on the characteristics of the ter, mirror, and receiving assemblies rigidly
particles. mounted together on a deployable arm. The pro-
The NEP experiment has several scientific ob- truding arm is extended outside of the probe's skin
jectives. At altitudes corresponding to pressures of after removal of the heat shield assembly. It holds
0.1 bar to greater than 10 bars, it will determine the the mirror assembly rigidly at its extremity, thus
presence and vertical extent of the clouds with defining the path between the transmitter and
resolution and at altitude intervals of less than 1 receiver assemblies. The arm is designed to allow
km. At these altitude intervals it will detect clouds cloud particles to flow through the instrument's
containing more than 3 particles/cm3 in which the sensitive volume as the probe descends.
particles are about 1 pm in diameter. Also, the ex- The transmitter consists of a solid-state laser
periment will determine the characteristic dimen- diode, source and associated driving electronics, a
sion for particles in the range of 0.5 to 20.0 pm for collimating lens for collecting and focusing the
each altitude interval and determine the particle light, and a long collimating tube containing a
number densities for clouds containing more than 3 number of apertures for defining the emitted light
particles/cm3 of characteristic dimensions between beam and minimizing scattered light. A solid-state
0.5 and 20.0 pm at each altitude reported. Finally, light detector near to the light source is used to
NEP will determine whether the particles are monitor the strength of that source.
spherical to find out whether they are liquid or The mirror assembly consists of four 90"
151
segments of conical mirrors, each of whose axes is assembly is similar to that in the forward scatter
coincident with the optical axis of the transmitter unit. No reflecting mirror assembly is used, and the
assembly. These segments have cone semiangles of sensitive sampling volume is determined by the
approximately 87.25", 82.5", 70", and 55" and are overlap of the fields of view of the transmitter and
mechanically fastened to form a circular assembly receiver assemblies. A solid-state, light-emitting
that is rigidly aligned by the deployed mounting diode, focusing lens, and source monitor are incor-
arm at a fixed distance from the aperture of the porated in the backward scatter unit so that its
transmitter assembly facing it. The resultant op- beam is directed at the plane mirror mounted out-
tical axis is coincident with the optical axis of the board of the 5.5" mirror segment of the forward
transmitter assembly. scatter unit. The light reflected from this mirror is
The transmitted beam passes to the external focused onto a solid-state detector in the backward
atmosphere through a hole in the center of the mir- scatter unit. The combination is used to monitor
ror. Light is scattered by atmospheric particles en- both the alignment of the forward scatter unit and
countered by the beam at scattering angles of ap- the amount of surface contamination of the mir-
proximately 5 . 8 " , 16", 40", and 70". This scattered ror. The enclosure of the backward scatter unit is
light is reflected by the appropriate mirror in a similar to that of the forward scatter unit but is
direction parallel to the optical axis of the trans- much shorter and does not protrude beyond the
mitter. skin of the probe.
A heater unit is mounted on the back of the Both the forward scatter and backward scatter
mirror assembly to reduce condensation during units are vented so that the internal pressure essen-
descent through the jovian atmosphere. tially matches the internal pressure of the probe.
Although some parts of the electronics and
The receiver assembly consists of four circuitry, especially preamplifiers, biasing circuits,
subassemblies arranged peripherally around the and source driving circuits, are incorporated into
end of the transmitter's collimator tube. Each con- the forward and backward scattering optical units,
sists of a plastic Fresnel lens which focuses incom- an electronics unit contains the bulk of the elec-
ing light that is parallel t o its optic axis onto an tronic components and circuits. These include
aperture behind which is a solid-state silicon detec- power conversion from the probe's bus supply to
tor and an electronic preamplifier. This registers provide power for the instrument, timing and log
the incoming light. The optic axis of each lens is control circuits, amplifiers, filters, integrators,
parallel t o that of the transmitter assembly but is multiplexors, digitizing equipment, data compres-
displayed radially so that it intersects its opposing sion circuits, memory storage, and circuits to inter-
conical mirror at the approximate centroid of the face with the probe's telemetry system.
projected area of the mirror in the lens plane. The Data output from the electronics unit to the
aperture for each subassembly, together with the telemetry system consists primarily of angular scat-
applicable conical mirror and the dimension of the ter measurements. However, calibration and
transmitter beam, defines the angular acceptance monitoring data are also provided. They include
function for each channel. A small plane mirror is alignment and mirror surface contamination
mounted outboard of the 5.8" mirror quadrant and monitor outputs, the source monitor readings for
is used in conjunction with a light source and detec- the forward and backward scatter laser diodes and
tor in the backward scatter unit to monitor align- alignment source light-emitting diode, measures of
ment and surface contamination. A cover plate the DC offsets of each of the major scatter chan-
containing a surface metallic grid covers the entire nels, outputs of the alignment and contamination
receiver assembly, and solid-state temperature sen- detectors, three temperature measurements inter-
sors are used t o monitor the temperature of the nal to the scatter units and the electronics box, and
receiver detector and preamplifier assembly. a reference voltage reading.
The backward scatter unit also contains a In addition, the gain of the 15" forward scat-
transmitter and a receiver unit. The transmitter ter channel is indicated four times during each of
unit consists of a solid-state laser diode source, the integration periods reported for this channel to
driver electronics, source monitoring detector, and indicate the presence of any fluctuations in the
a collimating and focusing lens. The receiver cloud structure during a n integration period.
152
ORIGINAL‘ PAGE
COLOR PHOTOGRAPH
154
Figure 111. Engineering unit of the Jupiter helium
interferometer.
bservations indicate that the relative proportions premise holds true, a precise measurement of the
f helium and hydrogen on the Sun closely match jovian helium abundance in combination with a bit
lose on Jupiter. O n the other hand, the latest of theory about the evolution of the cosmic
:sults of Voyager 1 indicate that the helium mix- hydrogen budget would give us the most accurate
ig ratio in the atmosphere of Saturn amounts to value for the abundance ratio He/H2 right after the
nly 6.8 f 2.5 percent. This seeming deficiency of Big Bang.
elium in the Saturnian atmosphere may be due t o The HAD experiment will accurately measure
ravitational settling of helium toward the core of the relative abundance of helium in the jovian at-
aturn. This mechanism is part of the aging proc- mosphere by a precision measurement of the
ss of the giant planets, which is predicted to pro- refractive indices of the jovian atmosphere over the
zed faster the less massive the planet. Hence, a pressure range from 2.5 to 12 bars. From these
recision measurement of the jovian helium abun- data the mixing ratio of helium to hydrogen
ance by the HAD experiment will be an important molecules and the relative abundance of helium
tep toward a more quantitative understanding of can be calculated. Before measurements are made,
i e evolutionary history of the outer planets and the trace amounts of methane, ammonia, and
ie solar system as a whole. The measured helium water contained in the jovian atmosphere are
bundance can also be regarded as a lower limit for removed from the jovian gas sample by chemical
i e helium abundance in the primitive solar nebula. absorbers.
Interest in the jovian helium abundance is fur- The instrument is a Jamin-Mascart two-arm,
ier enhanced by expectations that it tells us the double-pathlength interferometer (fig. 112). As a
dative proportions of helium and hydrogen as light source the instrument uses an infrared emit-
roduced in the cosmologic "Big Bang." Although ting diode (1) which operates at a wavelength of
Ct-..
ILLI
t h o D:,
LIIL
D,,,
uig uaiig
--.-- L-.A-,,--- ...-- ~- - - &c- :i- I~. . a i i i i y
~ W I I I CI I ~ U I U ~ C I w
I aa abou: 9% niz. An interfereiice filter (2) aids iii pro-
urned in stars to helium, many scientists claim ducing near-monochromatic light. A Jamin plate
iat this in fact is a rather minute effect which has (3) produces two parallel and coherent light beams
3 far changed very little the mean cosmic abun- (4 and 5). Four chambers 10 cm in length each
ance ratio of helium over hydrogen. If this house the jovian gas (6) and a reference gas ( 7 ) ,and
155
ORlGlNAL PAGE
C Q ~ O RPHOTOGRAPH
there is a n array of nine photodetectors (8). Addi- pattern of consecutive, equidistant bright and dark
tional optical elements are the collimator (9), the fringes at the detector array. This pattern does not
inversion prism (lo), and the objective (1 1). change if both chambers are filled with gas mix-
T o optimize the accuracy of the method, the tures having the same refractive index. However,
refractive index of the jovian gas is measured any difference between the refractive indices of the
relative to a reference gas mixture of known refrac- jovian and the reference gas causes a continuous
tive index. The reference gas is made up of 28 per- shifting of the pattern with increasing pressure,
cent argon and 72 percent neon. This mixture has that is, as the probe penetrates to levels of higher
approximately the same refractive index as one pressure. The detector array allows us to measure
composed of 11 percent He and 89 percent Hz. The the instantaneous position of the fringe pattern to
reference gas is carried in a small storage vessel within one-sixteenth of the fringe separation.
within the instrument. During the descent into the The total weight of the instrument is 1.4 kg.
jovian atmosphere the reference gas is expanded in-
to its interferometer chambers (7) by means of a Net Flux Radiometer (NFR)
membrane valve which keeps the differential
pressure between the jovian gas and the reference The net flux radiometer (figs. 113 and 114) ex-
gas chambers near 50 mbar. This pressure dif- periment of the Galileo probe mission is designed
ference is in addition measured with a dedicated to measure the vertical profile of the difference be-
sensor to within a few millibars to fully account for tween the upward and downward radiation (the net
the influence of this pressure differential on the flux) in six spectral regions as the probe descends
observed fringe motion. through the jovian atmosphere. The spectral
The sensor is designed so that, for evacuated regions were chosen so that the experimental
chambers, it produces a well-defined interference results may contribute to our understanding of the
10
--_
- c -
156
ORfGlNAC PAGE
COLOR PHOTOG?!\PH
planet’s radiation budget and thus to the at- the atmosphere is optically thick, as is the case for
mospheric dynamics, t o detection of cloud layers in Jupiter, there will also be an increase in the
Jupiter’s atmosphere and evaluation of their opaci- downward-going radiation. The combined effect is
ty in the visible and thermal regions of the spec- a n overall decrease in the net flux. At the IO-bar
trum, and to estimating the abundance of several pressure level, the net flux in Jupiter’s atmosphere
molecular species which are felt to be important is predicted to be about 0.1 percent of either one-
contributors to the atmospheric opacity. way flux.
An important part of understanding the radia- If a planet’s atmosphere is structured, for ex-
, tion balance in the jovian atmosphere is determin- ample, cloud layers, perturbations on a smoothly
ing the depth of penetration and the location of the varying net flux profile will result. The magnitude
deposition of solar radiation. Atmospheric model- of the perturbation in various spectral regions gives
ing, thus far, can only estimate these parameters. information on the opacity of the layer and
The NFR is the only probe instrument that has the therefore on its contribution to the overall radia-
potential for measuring this driving force for at- tion budget. The location of the perturbations,
mospheric dynamics. correlated with the temperature and pressure levels
The principal investigator is R. W . Boese of of the probe’s atmospheric structure experiment,
Ames Research Center. allows us to infer the species which caused the per-
The technique used to measure the net flux in turbation (condensation clouds, for example). Ad-
a planet’s atmosphere is t o view the upward and ditionally, the shorter wavelength spectral band-
downward hemispheres and form the difference passes of the NFR experiment should yield
F,,, = Ft - FL . Descending into a planet’s at- valuable information on the effectiveness of cloud
mosphere, the temperature, and therefore the layers in preventing solar r a d i a t i o n f r o m
upward-going atmospheric radiation, increase. I f penetrating Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Figure 113. Net flux radiometer (NFR). Figure 114. Diagram of net flux radiometer.
Flexible
boot
Electronics sensor
157
Molecular hydrogen is a major source of The electronics of the net flux radiometer ac-
gaseous opacity in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Methane, complish the functions of converting and
ammonia, and water vapor are major contributors regulating spacecraft power to voltage levels re-
to the opacity in a spectral region in which quired by the various electronic components. Each
hydrogen is transparent. By measuring the net flux channel requires its own amplifiers and integrators.
versus altitude in many wavelengths and observing The electronics unit also provides the electronic in-
the opacity in the hydrogen windows, it is possible terface with the probe data handling system. In-
to estimate the abundance of water vapor, strument timing and logic is under microprocessor
methane, and ammonia. control. The microprocessor controls the instru-
The instrument consists of two units, the op- ment operating mode, packs and formats the data,
tical head and the electronics unit. The vented elec- and shifts the appropriate data t o the spacecraft
tronics unit is mounted t o the probe instrument buffer when the NFR read envelope occurs. The
shelf. The optical head is fastened to the electronics data that is packed include the six channels of
unit and extends through the probe wall. A flange science data, measurement mode identification,
on the optical head mates with a pliable gasket and gain select amplifiers status, status of position er-
becomes part of the probe wall. ror, amplifier zero, and housekeeping data.
The outside of the optics housing is highly The NFR utilizes three operational modes: net
reflective to minimize heating or cooling of the op- flux, calibrate, and up flux. In the net flux mode
tical head. The housing contains apertures for the detector system alternately views upward and
measuring the upward and downward radiation. downward at a 2-Hz rate. The detector signals are
The direction not being viewed is blocked by a integrated for eleven up-down cycles, digitized,
“thermal shroud,” which prevents direct at- and stored in the microprocessor for packing and
mospheric flow into the optical head and permits transmittal to the probe data handling system.
thermal control of the components inside of the In the calibrate mode the optics detector
housing. system is rotated between the 90” and 270” posi-
Radiation from Jupiter’s atmosphere enters tions. The blackened inside of the optics housing at
the instrument through a diamond window which the 90” position is instrumented with two
is sealed with a n indium O-ring and is heated t o temperature sensors which have different, but
prevent condensation during the probe’s descent. overlapping, sensitivity ranges. A heated, black-
After passing through the diamond window ened aluminum block is located at the 270” posi-
the atmospheric radiation is reflected through a tion. The temperature sensor of this heated
Fabry optical system. The radiation concentration blackbody is used with feedback circuitry to active-
ratio of the condensing cone is less than a factor of ly control the temperature at about 410 K.
2; its main functions are to shield the detector In the up flux mode the optics detector rota-
assembly from unwanted radiation and to permit tion is between the 180” position (down view) and
location of the detector assembly in a relatively the 270” position (controlled temperature
benign thermal location. blackbody). The measurement will provide an ad-
The detector assembly consists of six spectral ditional, independent check of instrument per-
bandpass filters, a six-element lithium tantalate formance.
detector array, and hybrid preamplifiers. The filter The NFR integration period is 6 seconds long;
bandpasses are 3 to 500, 0.3 to 3.5, 4.5 to 5 . 5 , 14 5 . 5 seconds are used for measurement and 0.5 sec-
to 35, and 0.7 t o 3.5 pm. ond for digitization and setting up for the next
The instrument is rotated on precision bear- measurement.
ings to each of four “viewing” positions by means The 6-second integration period permits a ver-
of a geared stepper motor. A resolver attached t o tical resolution of about 1.2 km at the beginning of
the gears, along with an LED/detector system, in- the mission and about 0.25 km at the I0-bar level.
dicates whether the desired optics positioning has
been accomplished.
158
Appendix A.
Management
and
3cience
Management of a NASA planetary exploration mission requires a com-
plex organizational structure and associated sets of policies and procedures
and performance, cost, and time schedules. Achievement of a mission’s
scientific goals and objectives involves the combined and dedicated efforts of
many organizations and individuals. Time commitments for these efforts
range from short term to major fractions of the duration of the program (in
some cases, more than a decade). The Galileo mission is no exception. The
following pages list the major organizations and key individuals associated
with the mission. Since it is impossible to acknowledge every participant in a
document such as this, we restricted the lists to participants who have long-
lasting responsibilities or who have made significant contributions over a
short time period. We include those organizations and individuals perform-
ing major management or engineering (spacecraft and mission) activities, as
well as the scientific participants.
Project Organization
Galileo program management is the responsibility of the Earth and
Planetary Division (G. A. Briggs, Chief) of the Office of Space Science and
Applications (B. I. Edelson, Director) of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (J. M. Beggs, Administrator).
Overall project management, orbiter systems development manage-
ment, spacecraft assembly, experiment integration, probe integration,
testing, and tracking and data acquisition management are the responsibility
of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (L. Allen, Jr., Director).
Probe project management and relay radio hardware (orbiter and
probe) development are the responsibility of Ames Research Center (W. F.
Ballhaus, Jr., Director). Two major U. S . contractors have combined to pro-
vide the probe system hardware. The Hughes Aircraft Company is responsi-
ble for probe systems design, development, fabrication, and test as well as
probe experiment integration. The General Electric Company has general
responsibility for probe thermal protection, providing necessary heat shields
and structure and, in addition, separation mechanisms and parachute
systems.
The “German-NASA,” Deutsche Forschungs-und Versuchsanstalt fur
Luft-unci Raumfahrt, e.V., of the Fecierai Repubiic of Germany’s Fecierai
Ministry for Research and Technology, has responsibility for providing the
orbiter retropropulsion module and for cruise-phase tracking support. They
have contracted for the module with Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm GMbH
(MBB).
159
The U. S. Department of Energy is responsible for providing the
radioisotope thermoelectric generator used to power the orbiter. The General
Electric Company is developing the generator under a Department of Energy
contract.
Several other NASA centers and organizations have major respon-
sibilities. The Lewis Research Center (A. Stofan, Director) is managing the
development of the shuttle/Centaur stage for delivering Galileo from Earth
orbit to a Jupiter trajectory. The Kennedy Space Center (R. G. Smith, Direc-
tor) is responsible for shuttle launch tasks, whereas the Johnson Space
Center (G. D. Griffin, Director) is responsible for shuttle launch operations
control. Finally, the NASA Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network, Deep
Space Network, and NASA Communications Network will combine under
the direction of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to provide the necessary
navigation, tracking, and command and data handling operations.
Organizational Participation
In some cases, more than one person may have held a particular posi-
tion. Where multiple names are listed, they are in chronological sequence.
160
Project Engineering Office Manager, B. G. Lee
Probe Spacecraft System Interface Manager, D. H. Kindt
Reliability and Quality Assurance, T. R. Gavin
Software Systems Manager
R. E. Loesch
P. M. Molko
Assistant Orbiter Development Manager, S. G. Jones
Financial Management, R. L. Schieffelin, Jr.
Administration, M. G. Hine
Ames Research Center
Assistant Project Manager for Probe Systems, J. Sperans
Deputy Probe Project Manager, N. Vojvodich
Probe Scientist, L. Colin
Probe Development Manager, J. J. Givens
Systems Engineer, R. W. Schaupp
Experiments Manager, E. Tischler
Operations and Interface Manager, B. Chin
Deutsche Forschungs-und Versuchsanstalt fur Luft-und Raumfahrt
K.-0. Pfeiffer
W . Hagenest
German Space Operations Center
Mission Operations Manager, J. Kehr
Software Development Manager, P. Piotrowski
Department of Energy
J. J. Lombard0
Scientists
Scientific participation in the Galileo mission can be organized in several
categories: principal and co-investigators for experimenthstrument teams
(eight on the orbiter and six on the probe), team leaders and members for
“facility” instruments (imaging, radio science), interdisciplinary scientists,
project scientists, and probe project scientists. The principal participants in
each category are given below. It is interesting to note that 115 scientists par-
ticipate officially in Project Galileo (eliminating multiple-role participation).
Management of the project science activities is coordinated through the
Galileo Project Science Group, which is composed of three working
groups - Atmospheres, Magnetospheres, and Satellites -to help focus the
mission scientific objectives and to hold the membership to a reasonable size
(22). Official membership is given below.
Probe
Orbiter
164
C. F. Kennel, University of California, Los Angeles
R. L. McPherron, University of California, Los Angeles
C. T. Russell, University of California, Los Angeles
Instrument Manager
R. Snare, University of California, Los Angeles
Coordinators
Science, D. Clay, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Engineering, U. Amundson, J. Farrar, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Major contractor
Westinghouse
Dust Detector (DDS) Investigation
Principal Investigator
E. Grun, Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik
Co-investigators
H. Fechtig, Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik
J. Kissel, Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik
G. Morfill, Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik
M. S. Hanner, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
B. A. Lindblad, Lund Observatory, Sweden
H. A. Zook, Johnson Space Center
Instrument Manager
D. Linkert, Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik
Coordinators
Science, M. Hanner, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Engineering, C. Coppock, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Major contractor
Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm GMbH
Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) Investigation
Principal Investigator
D. J. Williams, Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins
University
Co-investigators
S. M. Krimigis, Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins
University
R. W. McEntire, Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins
University
E. C. Roelof, Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins
University
T. P. Armstrong, University of Kansas
L. J. Lanzerotti, Bell Laboratories
J. G. Roederer, University of Alaska
W. Studeman, Max-Planck-Institut fur Aeronomie
B. Wilkin, Max-Planck-Institut fur Aeronomie
T. A. Fritz, Los Alamos National Observatory
1nst:ument Manage:
B. Tossman, Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins
University
Instrument Coordinators
Science, J. Willett, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Engineering, R. Parrish, R. Gibbs, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Major contractors/suppliers
Max-Planck-Institut fur Aeronomie
Poly-Scientific
Schaeffer Magnetics
Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) Investigation
Principal Investigator
R. W. Carlson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Co-investigators
G. E. Danielson, California Institute of Technology
Th. Encrenaz, Observatoire de Paris
F. P. Fsnale, University of Hawaii
T. B. McCord, University of Hawaii
T. V. Johnson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
D. L. Matson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
J. S. Lewis, University of Arizona
H. Masursky, U.S. Geological Survey
L. A. Soderblom, U S . Geological Survey
H. H. Kieffer, U. S. Geological Survey
F. W. Taylor, Oxford University
Instrument Manager
I. Aptaker, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Instrument Coordinators
Science, W. Smythe and P. Weissman, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Engineering, W. Sleigh, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Major contractors/suppliers
Cincinnati Electronics
Perkin Elmer
Santa Barbara Research Center
Photopolarimeter-Radiometer (PPR) Investigation
Principal Investigator
J . E. Hansen, Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Co-investigators
P. H. Stone, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A. A. Lacis, Goddard Institute for Space Studies
L. D. Travis, Goddard Institute for Space Studies
W.-C. Wang, Goddard Institute for Space Studies
G. Orton, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Y .-L. Yung, California Institute of Technology
Instrument Manager
A. Peterson, Goddard Space Flight Center
Instrument Coordinators
Science, N. Divine, T. Martin, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Engineering, D. Griffith, J. Farrar, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Major contractor
Santa Barbara Research Center
Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) Investigation
Principal Investigator
C. E. Hord, University of Colorado
Co-investigators
C. A. Barth, University of Colorado
G. E. Thomas, University of Colorado
A. I. Stewart, University of Colorado
A. L. Lane, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Instrument Manager
G. McNutt, University of Colorado
Instrument Coordinators
Science, J. Ajello, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Engineering, D. Griffith, J. Farrar, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Radio Science
Celestial Mechanics and Relativity
Team Leader
J. D. Anderson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Team member
F. Estabrook, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Science coordinator
J. Breiikle, Jet Piopiikioii L a b ~ i ~ t o r y
167
Galileo Project Science Group
169
Radio Propagation Team
Team Leaders
H. T. Howard, Stanford University
V. Eshleman, Stanford University
Team members
A. Kliore, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
G. Lindal, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
R. Woo, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Science coordinator
J. Briedenthal, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Interdisciplinary Investigators
Formation and Evolution of the Galilean Satellites
Fraser P. Fanale, University of Hawaii
Jovian Atmospheric Dynamics
Peter Gierasch, Cornel1 University
Structure and Aeronomy of the Atmospheres of Jupiter and its
Satellites
Donald M. Hunten, University of Arizona
Jovian Atmospheric Dynamics
Andrew P. Ingersoll, California Institute of Technology
Geology of the Galilean Satellites
Harold Masursky, U. S . Geological Survey
Ground-Truth Analysis of Radiative Transfer in the Atmosphere
of Jupiter
Glenn S. Orton, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Composition of the Jovian Atmosphere
Tobias Owen, State University of New York
Thermal and Dynamical Properties of the Jovian Atmosphere
and Evolution of the Jovian System
James B. Pollack, Ames Research Center
Jupiter Magnetosphere and Satellites - Magnetosphere Interactions
Christopher T. Russell, University of California, Los Angeles
Organic Chemistry of the Jovian Atmosphere
Carl Sagan, Cornell University
Wave Particle Interaction Phenomena at Jupiter
Frederick L. Scarf, TRW
Physical Processes in the Atmosphere of Jupiter and on the
Surfaces of the Galilean Satellites
Gerald Schubert, University of California, Los Angeles
Physical Properties of the Galilean Satellites
David Morrison, University of Hawaii
Investigation of the Jovian Upper Atmosphere and of Satellite
Atmospheres
Michael McElroy, Harvard University
Magnetospheric Dynamics
James Van Allen, University of Iowa
168
Appendix B.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
AACS attitude and articulation control system (orbiter)
ACE attitude control electronics (AACS)
AMU atomic mass unit
AS I atmospheric structure instrument (probe)
AU astronomical unit (150 million km)
BPM broken plane maneuver
BS bow shock
c
3
minimum launch energy
CCD charge-coupled device (solid-state imaging instrument)
CDS command and data system (orbiter)
CMS composition measuring system (EPD)
CRC critical controller (orbiter AACS)
DCP data and command processor (probe)
DDS dust detector (orbiter spun)
DEUCE despun electronics (orbiter AACS)
DMA direct memory access
DMS data memory subsystem (orbiter)
E encounter; entry
EOM end of mission
EPD energetic particles detector (orbiter spun)
ET external tank
FOV field of view
GPHS general purpose heat source
HAD helium abundance detector (probe)
HCD hardware command decoder (orbiter AACS)
HGA high-gain antenna (orbiter spun)
HLM high-level module (CDS)
Hz hertz (cycles per second)
I/O input/output
IM injection module
IPIU instrument power interface unit (probe)
IR infrared
IUE International Ultraviolet Explorer
IUS inertial upper stage
JOI Jupiter orbit insertion
K kelvin
km kilometer
LBA linear boom actuator (orbiter)
LEMMS low energy magnetospheric measuring system (EPD)
LGA low-gain antenna (orbiter)
LLM low-ievei moduie (ZDSj
LRD/EPI lightning and energetic particles (probe)
MAG magnetometer (orbiter spun)
MDS modulatioddemodulation subsystem (orbiter)
MES main engine start
171
Source: The New Solar System, Kelly Beatty, ed., and Sky and Telescope, Nov. 83, p. 405.
Parenthetic names and satellite numbers await approval by the International Astronomical Union. Parenthetic values are uncertain
by at least 10 percent. Inclinations and eccentricities are the total values; “forced” components are important for the eccentricities of
the satellites Io and Europa. Inclinations are with respect to planetary equators for inner satellites and to orbital planes for outer
ones. Compound radii are the values for the “best-fit” triaxial ellipsoid.
‘The mass of the Sun divided by the mass of the planet (including its atmosphere and satellites). 2Satellite masses not included. I
3The ellipticity is (Re-Rp). R, and R, are the planet’s equatorial and polar radii. Jupiter’s internal (System 111) rotation period is
9.925 hours. 5At equator.
173
I
References
D’Amario, L. A., and D. V. Byrnes. Interplanetary Trajectory Design for
the Galileo Mission. Proceedings of the AIAA 21st Aerospace Sciences
Meeting, January 10-13, 1983, Reno, Nevada.
Diehl, R. E., D. I. Kaplan, and P. A. Penzo. Satellite Tour Design for the
Galileo Mission. Proceedings of the AIAA 21st Aerospace Sciences
Meeting, January 10-13, 1983, Reno, Nevada.