What is unique about the Galileo mission?
• The first in situ sampling of an outer planet atmosphere • The first orbiter of a gas giant planet • Satellite encounters hundreds of times closer than Voyager’s • Intensive surveying of the Jovian environment • State-of-the-art instrumentation much more capable than previous missions Previous missions (Pioneer and Voyager) provided brief reconnaissance – Galileo is the first thorough study of the Jovian system.
