Galileo Spacecraft
As it arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995,
NASA's Galileo orbiter received a stream of data
transmissions -- represented by the blue dots in
this artist's depiction -- from the atmospheric
probe that was descending through Jupiter's clouds.
The orbiter had released the probe five months
earlier. The wok-shaped probe sent information to
the orbiter for 57.6 minutes as it dropped about
200 kilometers (125 miles) through the atmosphere,
before succumbing to atmospheric pressure about 23
times greater than the average at Earth's sea
level. The probe returned data about sunlight,
heat flux, pressure, temperature, winds, lightning
and atmospheric composition. About one hour after
the end of the probe's transmissions, the orbiter
fired its main engine to brake into orbit around
Jupiter.
Note: This illustration correctly shows the partially deployed main antenna.
