On Sunday, NASA’s Galileo probe, ended a 14 year mission. It was sent to Jupiter to study it’s moons and observe the surrounding region. Some stats for you.
Launched in 1989 from Shuttle Atlantis, traveled a total of 4.6 billion kilometers, withstood 4 times the amount of Jovian radiation than it was designed to.
It was purposely put on a collision course with Jupiter since it was out of fuel, and NASA did not want it to crash into Europa. There are questions as to wether or not life may exist in the oceans on Europa. There are current plans for a second mission to study Europa in more detail.
I heard all about it on the CBC radion news. 680 seems to just like disasters and celebrities.
The probe will burn to ash in the atmosphere of Jupiter and hopefully leave no polluting trace. Very cool.
Mom