Mission Jupiter by Daniel Fischer, Copernicus/ Springer-Verlag, $32,
ISBN 0387987649
GALILEO鈥攖he spacecraft, not the man鈥攈as shown us space
exploration in all its phases, from the frustrating to the rewarding. Since late
1995 it has sent us 15,000 astonishingly detailed images gleaned from its orbit
round Jupiter. The craft has dropped a probe into the gas giant鈥檚 atmosphere and
scooted around above the surfaces of Io, Ganymede and Europa, nosing into active
volcanoes and finding liquid salty water underneath smooth ice. It鈥檚 monitored
the Jovian weather and recorded meteors, polar lights and magnetic storms. And
without it, a host of new hot spots, metallic cores and water-free zones would
never have been found.
Planning for the craft began in 1974. The initial Shuttle-borne mission was
downgraded, and planetary gravitational assists were used instead. Objections
from environmentalists to the plutonium power system nearly caused cancellation
of the 1989 launch. Then in 1991 Galileo鈥檚 main antenna refused to
deploy鈥攁nd the backup sends data one-thousandth as fast.
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In Mission Jupiter Daniel Fischer tells a good tale, skilfully
explaning the discoveries about Jupiter and its moons and their relations to the
other bodies out there. Even the intricacies of the spectacular colour images
are described in careful detail.
An excellent and accessible overview of the workings of one of the best
scientific endeavours of the space age.