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MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109.  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov 

Guy Webster  818-354-6278           
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.                       
April 9, 2003

NEWS RELEASE: 2003-049

Galileo Millennium Mission Status

NASA's Galileo spacecraft serendipitously discovered seven to nine
space rocks near Jupiter's inner moon Amalthea when Galileo flew past
that moon five months ago.

Galileo detected the objects as bright flashes seen by its star
scanner, an onboard telescope used to determine the spacecraft's
orientation by sighting stars.  Information from the star scanner was
recorded onto Galileo's tape recorder during the flyby and
transmitted to Earth in subsequent months. Experts at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are analyzing the data to
estimate the sizes of the objects, which may be anywhere from gravel
to stadium-size rocks.

JPL engineers Paul Fieseler and Shadan Ardalan reported the findings
to the International Astronomical Union.  The star tracker saw nine
flashes during the flyby, but two may be duplicate sightings.

"It is likely that these bodies have either been gravitationally
captured into an orbit near Amalthea or have been split off of the
moon as a result of past collisions," Fieseler said.

The Amalthea encounter was Galileo's last flyby of a jovian moon. 
After more than seven years in orbit around Jupiter, the spacecraft
has nearly depleted its supply of propellant needed for pointing its
antenna toward Earth and controlling its flight path. While still
controllable, it has been put on a course for impact into Jupiter
next September. The maneuver prevents the risk of Galileo drifting to
an unwanted impact with the moon Europa, where it has discovered
evidence of a subsurface ocean that is of interest as a possible
habitat for extraterrestrial life.

Additional information about Galileo and the discoveries is available
at 

http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov 

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, D.C.

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