davidle@microsoft.UUCP (David LEVINE) (01/17/90)
In article <327@mtndew.UUCP> friedl@mtndew.UUCP (Steve Friedl) writes: >With the talk of the power problems on Galileo, a question came >to mind. Let's say that they found some problem with the craft >that would render its mission to Jupiter useless (say, all the >cameras died). If the control and propulsion systems were >working, is there any way that the craft could be directed to >enter Earth's orbit on its next flyby and get picked up by the >Shuttle? I know that this thing is gonna be going pretty fast, >but anything seems plausible. I don't know much about the orbital mechanics, but the mission sounds too costly and difficult to be worth it. For starters, don't shuttle missions start at $100 million? After bringing it down, it would be torn completely apart and refurbished. More cost. Granted, it is a $1 billion spacecraft but it is also fairly old technology. It might not be much more expensive to just design one of the new Mariner Mark II missions for Jupiter. I think that retrieving Galileo would be the most difficult operation ever attempted EVA. In order to stuff it back into the shuttle, there are about a dozen component that must be stowed. For starters, the Magnetometer boom (30 feet long) must be helically wound back up into its coffee can size contained (OK you could just detach it and leave it there). Then, the High Gain Antenna (if deployed) must be stowed. These two operations are pretty hairy to do on the ground. Remember that the entire time, the astronauts will be exposed to the radiation from the RTG's -- a fair amount. In order to stow or detatch the RTG booms, they would have to get close to the RTG's themselves. This stowing process would take *hours* on the ground -- during EVA it might not be possible. Finally, after working on it for over ten years, I think a lot of people at JPL would rather not have it back at all. Fortunately, Galileo looks to be doing OK despite the power problems and I look forward to a *very* successful encounter in a few years. David Levine ===================================================== === The opinions expressed above are entirely mine == =====================================================