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The Galilean moons are named after Galileo Galilei, who observed them in either December 1609 or January 1610, and recognized them as satellites of Jupiter in March 1610; [2] they remained the only known moons of Jupiter until the discovery of the fifth largest moon of Jupiter Amalthea in 1892. [3]
Galileo arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, after gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth, and became the first spacecraft to orbit an outer planet. [4] The Jet Propulsion Laboratory built the Galileo spacecraft and managed the Galileo program for NASA. West Germany's Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm supplied the propulsion module.
NASA's Juno spacecraft captured this view of Jupiter during the mission's 54th close flyby of the giant planet Sept. 7, 2023. ... The four "Galilean moons" were named after Italian astronomer ...
Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is a space probe developed by NASA to study Europa, a Galilean moon of Jupiter. It was launched on October 14, 2024. [15] The spacecraft will use gravity assists from Mars on March 1, 2025, [10] and Earth on December 3, 2026, [11] before arriving at Europa in April 2030. [16]
By 1980, delays in the Space Shuttle program pushed the launch date for Galileo back to 1984. [32] While a Mars slingshot was still possible in 1984, it would no longer be sufficient. [33] NASA decided to launch Galileo on two separate missions, launching the orbiter in February 1984 with the probe following a month later. The orbiter would be ...
In 2003, NASA proposed a program called Human Outer Planets Exploration (HOPE) that involved sending astronauts to explore the Galilean moons. [85] NASA has projected a possible attempt some time in the 2040s. [86]
Painting illustrating a flyby of Io by the Galileo spacecraft. The exploration of Io, Jupiter's innermost Galilean and third-largest moon, began with its discovery in 1610 and continues today with Earth-based observations and visits by spacecraft to the Jupiter system.
There are 293 confirmed moons in our cosmic neighborhood. By studying these worlds, astronomers hope to learn about ancient asteroid collisions, space volcanoes, and the origins of life itself.