In article ,
Gordon D. Pusch wrote:
1.) Galileo's impact velocity will be so high it will wiff to plasma.
2.) Jupiter's environment is most likely too alien for anything that
evolved on Earth to survive there --- even in the "water zone."
3.) Jupiter has almost certainly already been hit by terrestrial material
ejected by asteroid impacts...

Possibly not since life evolved, though; it takes a really huge impact to
get stuff off Earth. The other two points I generally agree with.

Note that all of the above are likewise true of an impact on Europa,

No, the lack of an atmosphere changes the picture. The impact energy is
not necessarily uniformly distributed; fragments could survive.

so this whole self-immolation maneuver is almost certainly pointless ---
it is basically just a misguided PR exercise to demonstrate JPL's
"environmental responsibility" to people who are still going to hate
and oppose them...

If memory serves, the recommendation for disposal of Galileo by Jupiter
impact came from a science advisory panel, not from JPL.
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