May 13, 1996:
GLOBE Students Invited to Online Chat with Galileo Scientists
GLOBE students work with GLOBE scientists studying the planet Earth.
Other scientists study other planets in our Solar System. On Wednesday, May 16,
GLOBE students are invited to join an online chat session with the women
and men working behind the scenes on NASA's Galileo Mission to Jupiter.The Galileo spacecraft was launched in October 1989. This spacecraft was made up of a Satellite to go into orbit around Jupiter and a Probe to descend into the atmosphere of the planet. Galileo arrived at Jupiter in December 1995 after taking a very circuitous route past Venus and coming back around Earth twice to build up enough speed to make it to Jupiter.
On December 7, 1995, the Probe plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere at a speed of more than 100,000 miles per hour to take the first direct environmental measurments of Jupiter. The Probe survived Jupiter's intense heat and pressure to transmit data for 57 minutes. Planetary scientists now have unique new data about Jupiter and its atmosphere.
The online discussion with Galileo scientists will take place from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm (PDT) at a special WebChat area May 16 at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/webchat/galileo.html. To participate, you need only to have a forms-capable Web browser.