I preziosi consigli che Mike Mideke ci offre da qualche tempo in relazione a Radio Natura, sono validi anche nel resto del Sistema Solare, o almeno nello spazio circostante il pianeta Giove ed i suoi Satelliti. Leggete questo report di Ron Baalke (JPL-NASA).

LoScrittoio.it

Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 09:22:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: baalke@jpl.nasa.gov
Subject: This Week On Galileo - July 24-30, 2000
Reply-To: galileo-owner@www.jpl.nasa.gov

This Week on Galileo
July 24-30, 2000

Galileo is about 815 million kilometers (507 million miles) from Earth this
week, continuing its trek around Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet.
The spacecraft spends the week playing back science data that is stored on
its onboard tape recorder. This week's data set was acquired during
Galileo's May flyby of Ganymede, the largest of Jupiter's moons.

Data playback is limited only by the amount of time scheduled for Galileo's
use of the Deep Space Network's 70-m (230-foot) diameter radio antennas.
That diameter is just about the same length as a Boeing 747 jumbo jet.
Those are some pretty big ears! The Deep Space Network (DSN) consists of
three communications facilities placed at longitudes approximately 120
degrees apart around the world. The facilities are located at Goldstone,
in California's Mojave Desert; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra,
Australia. This strategic placement permits constant observation of a
spacecraft as the Earth rotates. Galileo's schedule this week includes
daily "tracks" from Goldstone and Canberra, averaging just over 6 hours
from each location. On Sunday, Galileo also gets about 5-1/2 hours at the
Madrid radio antenna.

This week's playback schedule includes an observation by the Fields and
Particles instruments, one by the Plasma Wave instrument (PWS), and two by
the Solid-State Imaging camera (SSI). Continuing from last week, the
Fields and Particles instruments are first on this week's schedule with
portions of a 60-minute high-resolution recording of the plasma, dust, and
electric and magnetic fields surrounding Ganymede. Ganymede is the only
planetary moon that is known to have its own internally-generated magnetic
field, and thus, its own magnetosphere. The data taken during this
observation will allow scientists to obtain a more complete understanding
of the unique interactions between the magnetospheres of Ganymede and
Jupiter.

Next, PWS returns an observation dedicated to the detection of chorus
emissions within Ganymede's magnetosphere. A chorus signal is seen in the
electromagnetic fields measured by PWS. The chorus signal is present when
plasma is being accelerated by a particularly efficient type of
wave-particle interaction. Scientists hope to understand more about
Ganymede's unique magnetosphere by detecting and analyzing chorus emissions.

Toward the end of the week, data from the two SSI observations are
processed, packaged, and transmitted to Earth. These observations are part
of a set of five designed to provide scientists with information regarding
how different features and terrains came to exist on Ganymede's surface.
The younger terrain types examined in this set of observations are
believed to have been created by processes internal to Ganymede, but the
roles of volcanic vs. tectonic processes are not yet clear. The first
mosaic of images captures smooth bright terrain and grooved terrain that
may be partially surrounded, or "engulfed" by the surrounding terrain. The
second observation looks at a transition region between bright and dark
terrain.

For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter,
please visit the Galileo home page at one of the following URL's:

http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo