Galileo Status Report - May 1, 1996
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
In the two-day tape recorder test last week, the tape stuck and was successfully unstuck many times under various conditions. The engineers are gaining confidence in operating the tape recorder. They believe that these test results support the strategy established to deal with the sticking problem, starting with the Ganymede encounter.
Later this week Galileo will perform its first small orbit trim maneuver to refine the path to Ganymede. The velocity change of about 1.3 meters per second (less than 3 mph) will move the arrival about 35 minutes later and considerably closer to the satellite. Ganymede encounter at 844 kilometers (about 520 miles) altitude is planned for June 27.
In about two weeks Galileo's new flight software will be transmitted to the spacecraft via the Deep Space Network. The new software, for Galileo's command and data subsystem, attitude control subsystem and most of the scientific instruments, is currently finishing up testing in the spacecraft test-bed simulator at JPL.
The orbiting Galileo is now 16.9 million kilometers (10.4 million miles) from Jupiter, moving toward the planet at more than 1,600 meters per second (3,600 mph). It is 719 million kilometers (447 million miles) from Earth.