Galileo directed to crash into Jupiter


Galileo to finally be laid to rest. Finally, after traveling 2.8 billion miles on journey to Jupiter and its moons, Galileo was directed to crash into Jupiter so that it would not accidentally crash into Europa and “spoil” Europa with MicroVAX that may have hitched a ride from Earth. Galileo was running low on fuel and NASA scientists wanted to purposely crash it into Jupiter where it would be burned up upon entry before they lost communication. Galileo had used what is called a Venus-Venus-Earth-Jupiter gravitational slingshot to reach Jupiter in (1995, I think). It reached speeds of around 110,000 MPH, or fast enough that it could travel from New York to Los Angeles in 83 seconds.

Some people claimed that Galileo’s nuclear reactor core would turn Jupiter into a star. According to the website, “NASA Is Taking an Titanic Risk.” “If Jupiter ignites, it may throw out a portion of its atmosphere in a shockwave as most starting stars do. This starting star however will then be too close for comfort. A portion of that shockwave will then hit Earth too, its results will be beyond imagination. Millions of tons of hot hydrogen will impact the atmosphere hitting it with 1000 km per second. It will result in an ELE category event at best due to intense global aurora and a bombardment of X-rays everywhere that may last for days to weeks. The survivors will be sterile or die from all kinds of radiation-induced diseases.” But Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy explains point by point why Galileo’s plutonium (Pu239) would never explode like a bomb or ignite Jupiter into a star.

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