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Jupiter Zaps Galileo With Radiation
Boston - October 28, 1999 - 
Boston - October 28, 1999 - Now in the final few months of its mission to Jupiter, NASA's Galileo probe is braving damaging levels of radiation in an attempt to bring planetary scientists their closest views yet of the volcanic moon Io.Jupiter's powerful magnetic field strips charged particles from the atmosphere of Io--and as a result, the moon orbits in a doughnut-shaped belt of high-energy ions. Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena realised that this would pose a hazard to Galileo's electronics, and so delayed two close passes of Io until the end of the probe's four-year tour of the Jovian system. On 10 October, Galileo passed within 611 kilometres of Io, using its solid-state imager to reveal features as small as 9 metres across near the volcano Pillan. But the radiation took its toll, zapping a critical bit in Galileo's computer memory and blurring many images. The failed bit is in part of the computer memory that holds taped data while it is compressed for transmission to Earth. Galileo project manager Jim Erickson says that it should be possible to fix the problem before the next close encounter on 25 November. "It will require some software changes to store data in a slightly different location," he says. This article will appear in the October 30 issue of New Scientist New Scientist. Copyright 1999 - All rights reserved. The material on this page is provided by New Scientist and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written authorization from New Scientist.
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