Farewell, Galileo
A 14-year, three-billion-mile journey is coming
to an end.
Tomorrow, NASA will intentionally send the
Galileo space probe plummeting to a fiery death
inside Jupiter's crushing atmosphere. Launched in
1989, the probe spent the eight years since
arriving in the Jovian system studying the gas
giant and its major moons Europa, Io, Callisto and
Ganymede. It recorded the catastrophic impact of
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (in 1994, a year before its
arrival); it caught images of volcanic eruptions on
Io; and most significantly, it proved the existence
of a liquid water ocean underneath the ice-covered
surface of Europa, making the moon the most likely
candidate for harboring extraterrestrial life in
our solar system.
This latter discovery inspired my screenplay ICE
MOON (about which I've already written).
It has also fueled the imaginations of scientists
and laypersons worldwide. And it is this
possibility of life on Europa which prompted NASA's
decision to destroy the Galileo spacecraft, rather
than take the chance of it impacting the icy moon,
and thus contaminating it with Earthling microbes.
The probe has long outlived its original lifespan
and planned mission, and could fail at any
time.
I've followed the discoveries and achievements
of this little spacecraft closely over the years,
so its demise tomorrow comes with some degree of
melancholy. But, bidding farewell to something that
has had such a long and productive life is more
celebratory than tragic—much like saying
goodbye to Bob Hope, for instance. I can't wait to
see what Galileo's successors find on (or within)
Europa.
In February 2000, Galileo captured
this image of a volcanic
eruption on Io. See the "Best of Galileo" gallery
here.
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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