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Galileo Nearing Its End
Anonymous Coward writes "Mission operations for the Galileo space probe, currently orbiting Jupiter, are scheduled to be shut down at the end of this month. Once a month thereafter scientists will check on the probe until September when the probe will be ordered to crash into Jupiter. The $1.5 billion mission met 70 percent of its science objectives and made a number of serendipitous discoveries along the way -- despite a range of problems."
Why crach it into jupiter? Why not just send it out there. who knows? Maybe it could attract 'attention'. Of course if the Irken Armada shows up I never said this...
-- Insert wisdom here:
R...T...F...A...
And I quote
" Galileo could be allowed to simply remain in orbit, but scientists feared it might collide with Europa and contaminate that body with microbes from Earth, possibly damaging its environment. "
This is an entirely valid concern, think the andromeda strain only inverted.
-- The morphemes of your disquisition are ascertainable, but they have eschewed an ambit of transpicuous exposition.
I'm not going to debate cost effectiveness or anything (space science is quite over my head), but it is interesting that 30% of 1.5 billion dollars is 450 million dollars (imagine what I could do with even 1 percent of that...).
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
...the way my cars usually go. They run and run and run, and eventually start falling apart so fast that I just check on them once every so often, and eventually crash them into something just to finish the damn thing off.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
they have to crash it... haven't you seen the Star Trek movie about Vger?
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
I just know that this is going crash into the mayor of Jupiteria's house and start an intergalactic war. (or would that be inter-solarsystemic war?)
Become an engineer, then we'll talk.
No need - I'm 15, and I know engineering. ;)
-insert a witty something-
He's dead, Jim.
Blarf.
If Galileo has achieved 100% of it goals, it would be clear they hadn't planned a hard enough mission. Just like if too many students get 100%, the test isn't hard enough to tell you which students are better.
I'll bite...
First, I'd like to ask the obvious question: How is this the government's fault, exactly? You sound as if you found some way to link this with GW Bush botching one of his speeches.
Second, I'd like to ask how blasting an unmanned probe billions of miles into space and having it send back useful information for 14 years despite severe damage to just about every part of it is anything remotely like making change at the corner drug store.
Maybe if you were blind, had no arms or legs, and could only access the cash register by holding a 10-foot pole in your teeth with a stick of chewing gum on the end, it might be a slightly better analogy... but you'ld still have more of an advantage that that probe.
=Smidge=
Cool it. I don't think anyone here thinks Bush had any fault in the probe's misfortunes; I'd be surprised if the man had anything to do with such a blasphemous ordeal. I mean shooting a probe up into the Heavens (oh!), to gather Scientific Data (save us!) and having the gall to crash it into one of God almighty's firmament stars! (amen!) ;-) No, no. Nobody thinks Bush is a man of such things.
Cià,
Edo
Mi domando chi à il mandante di tutte le cazzate che faccio - Altan
Well, NASA is part of the government, isn't it? And they're responsible for space launchy things like probes, aren't they? Therefore, this was a government endeavour. Note that this is the only part of my post I'm willing to defend...^^;
-insert a witty something-
It would be intra-solarsystemic war.
I'm tired of hearing of all these 'scientific' missions being carried out by robots! We need real people at the controls! That's way more sexy than being able to have multiple probes that can do remote research. After all, who applies for the patent when a miniature front-end loader does all the work?
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
Gotta make *2010* really happen....perpetual light for mankind...and more tax revenue for California!