Read our interview with Margaret Kivelson about the Galileo Project!  Dr. Kivelson is a Professor of Space Physics in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences and at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (Space Science Center), both at UCLA.

 

The picture you see above is the Galileo satellite. 

 The Galileo Probe was launched October 18, 1989. It was built and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) which is part of NASA. The Gailieo Probe descended into the cloud tops of  Jupiter on December 5, 1995.  The Galileo Orbiter was placed into orbit around Jupiter and has been around Jupiter taking pictures and collecting data for six years.  It was the first mission to make a close flyby of an asteroid.  (Gaspra), on it's way to Jupiter The Galileo Probe was also the first atmospheric probe to enter Jupiter's atmosphere and the orbiter was the first spacecraft to go into orbit into Jupiter.

The picture you see above is a picture of the Galileo probe in orbit around Jupiter. 

 Dr. Kivelson has helped us with the Galileo project and we have asked her these following questions and she has answered back with the following replies. 

1. Do you think there is a chance of finding life on other planets or moons in our solar system?

Dr. Kivelson: It is possible but at the moment, it does not seem very likely. The most likely places to look for evidence of life, present or past, is where there is water and the places where we think there may be water in some liquid form are Europa and Mars. More probable than finding living matter in these places is that we may find evidence that life once existed there, especially on Mars which may have had a period of much more extensive water and possibly a milder climate.

2. Where do you think space travel and research will go next?

Dr. Kivelson: Several interesting projects are already underway. The Cassini spacecraft is on its way to Saturn and will make many passes by Saturn's moon Titan during its mission. I think that there will be probes visiting many of the small bodies of the solar system: Europa, possibly Ganymede, and some of the asteroids. A mission to Pluto is also likely. Other research involves looking for planets around distant stars, and they are finding many.

3. Do you think there is a chance of humans going to Jupiter's moons in our lifetime?

Dr. Kivelson I don't think that humans will go to the moons of Jupiter, even in your lifetime. But there is a good chance that humans will return to the Moon, and land on Mars. Even these objectives present very serious problems from the point of view of spacecraft and Lander engineering and from the point of view of protecting the health of the astronauts.