Product Description

Half a billion miles away, a swirling mass of hurricanes and clouds, the king of the planets presides over a little group of worlds that has long dazzled astronomers. This volume tells the story of the American space probe, Galileo, which has been studying Jupiter and its moons. It features first-hand testimonies from the men and women who were involved in making Galileo's odyssey happen, and it goes behind the scenes to learn how many times the project was saved from disaster before its ultimate triumph. Illustrated with over 100 colour images showing the harsh beauty and remarkable landscapes of the Jovian system, the book reveals the nature of the famous moons - a seething mass of volcanoes and lava lakes - and Europa, its glistening ice crust creaking and flexing over the waters below.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #344371 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 239 pages

About the Author
Michael Hanlon is the Science Editor of the Daily Express and the Sunday Express. This is his first book

Customer Reviews

Excellent!
In 'The Worlds of Galileo', Mike Hanlon, one of Britain's leading newspaper science editors, relates how NASA's Galileo spacecraft overcame a series of severe problems and went on to revolutionise our understanding of the Jovian system.

Drawing upon interviews with the key participants, Hanlon explains the project's origin in the cash-strapped 1970s, the political travails of the early 1980s, and the redesign in the aftermath of the Challenger accident. After the spacecraft's epic voyage out to Jupiter, he focuses upon the astonishing 'fire and ice' moons of volcanic Io and Europa, where there appears to be an ocean beneath a thin shell of ice.

Hanlon handles the geological discussion with ease, so this is a highly readable account. Certainly, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, who contributed the foreword, was impressed. Finally, St Martins Press is to be congratulated for having produced a very handsome volume with colour imagery throughout.

Troubled travels
Journeys of exploration have always been risky ventures. When the trip involves several years over millions of kilometres, the odds of unblemished success grow enormous. Engaging in such a venture in the realm of space, almost beyond the reach of human control suggests hazards beyond imagining. This book describes such a venture, perhaps the most ambitious ever undertaken. That the measure of success achieved was so great is a tribute to all those who planned and implemented it. Michael Hanlon gives us a ringside seat in his portrayal of the journey of the Galileo Mission to Jupiter. Although not a participant, he ably captures the dedication and skills of the Mission Team. Further, he's able to place us in the space vehicle as it traversed one of the most bizarre journeys ever undertaken.

The Galileo Mission was spurred by the preceding Pioneer and Voyager missions of the 1970s. These four robots cruised through the outer solar system, returning stunning views of the largest planet and its associates beyond. In doing so, they raised numerous and unanswerable questions about our neighbours in space. Unlike the previous probes, Hanlon takes us through the planning that led Galileo's flight to Venus, back past Earth to its final destination far out in the solar system. The efforts put into the flight brought Galileo to within 5 km of its intended position when it arrived at Venus - a staggering achievement.

All the planning and engineering couldn't prevent problems, however. NASA's attempt to open the main transmitting antenna failed when some minor pins failed to release. When Galileo arrived at its primary destination, the antenna looked like an umbrella wracked by high winds. NASA used other methods to maintain communication, resulting in the stunning images seen here. It was a frustrating experience for the mission team, yet Galileo added a treasure house of new information about our neighbours in space.

We are so accustomed to the notion that we are the sole home of life, that the problems surrounding Galileo's termination render this issue the most bizarre of the trip. Europa, the ice-coated satellite of Jupiter, may contain living organisms in its hidden sea. In order not to contaminate that life, if it exists, Galileo had to be purposely sacrificed. Hanlon describes the options and why each was considered worthwhile. Galileo went to explore the Jovian system and was still transmitting images as he completed this vividly descriptive work. He is to be commended for a gripping account. We may be the only life in this group of planets, but Galileo's records give us a major argument to continue our search for life elsewhere. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]