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  #1  
Old October 30th 03, 06:30 PM
Larry G
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Default Jupiter question

Here's a question I've always wondered about. How come no space probe (that
I'm aware of) has taken photos inside Jupiter's (or any of the large
planets') atmosphere? Or at least photos from a very low orbit.

I think this would be fascinating. Is it because the atmospheric
temperature would melt the probe/camera before it reached the low orbit
and/or descent? Are there any known plans to send a probe that could
withstand the extreme temps (or gravity?) to achieve such a feat?

Larry

  #2  
Old October 31st 03, 03:09 PM
Chosp
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Default Jupiter question


"Larry G" wrote in message
...
Here's a question I've always wondered about. How come no space probe

(that
I'm aware of) has taken photos inside Jupiter's (or any of the large
planets') atmosphere? Or at least photos from a very low orbit.

I think this would be fascinating. Is it because the atmospheric
temperature would melt the probe/camera before it reached the low orbit
and/or descent? Are there any known plans to send a probe that could
withstand the extreme temps (or gravity?) to achieve such a feat?

Larry


Only one probe has entered Jupiter's atmosphere.
The probe from the Galileo spacecraft.
It, unfortunately didn't have a camera.

  #3  
Old October 31st 03, 03:09 PM
Chosp
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Default Jupiter question


"Larry G" wrote in message
...
Here's a question I've always wondered about. How come no space probe

(that
I'm aware of) has taken photos inside Jupiter's (or any of the large
planets') atmosphere? Or at least photos from a very low orbit.

I think this would be fascinating. Is it because the atmospheric
temperature would melt the probe/camera before it reached the low orbit
and/or descent? Are there any known plans to send a probe that could
withstand the extreme temps (or gravity?) to achieve such a feat?

Larry


Only one probe has entered Jupiter's atmosphere.
The probe from the Galileo spacecraft.
It, unfortunately didn't have a camera.

  #4  
Old October 31st 03, 05:13 PM
Alan Erskine
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Default Jupiter question

"Larry G" wrote in message
...
Here's a question I've always wondered about. How come no space probe

(that
I'm aware of) has taken photos inside Jupiter's (or any of the large
planets') atmosphere? Or at least photos from a very low orbit.

I think this would be fascinating. Is it because the atmospheric
temperature would melt the probe/camera before it reached the low orbit
and/or descent? Are there any known plans to send a probe that could
withstand the extreme temps (or gravity?) to achieve such a feat?

Larry

Wouldn't melt it, it would be eventually crushed. The atmosphere is cold
and gets progressively colder and with higher pressure as it gets thicker.

There's nothing to see - ever been inside a fog bank? That's what it'd look
like.

--
Alan Erskine
alanterskine(at)hotmail.com


Due to Optusnet's failure to deal with
the current virus SPAM attack, respond
to alanterskine(at)hotmail.com


  #5  
Old October 31st 03, 05:56 PM
Gordon D. Pusch
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Default Jupiter question

"Larry G" writes:

Here's a question I've always wondered about. How come no space probe
(that I'm aware of) has taken photos inside Jupiter's (or any of the
large planets') atmosphere?


Limited uplink bandwidth plus limited available light.
Both factors imply that It Would Cost Too Much To Fly It.


Or at least photos from a very low orbit.


Define "low."

Also, _too_ low, and atmospheric drag sucks in your Incredibly Expensive
Space Probe.


I think this would be fascinating.


"Fascinating" doesn't always Pay The Bills.


Is it because the atmospheric temperature would melt the probe/camera
before it reached the low orbit and/or descent?


No. It is because of Limited Bandwidth, Limited Light, and Limited Budget.


Are there any known plans to send a probe that could withstand the
extreme temps (or gravity?) to achieve such a feat?


No.

(BTW, "gravity" is hardly an issue; the Jupiter Entry Probe experienced
=FAR= higher gee-loads during the atmospheric entry.)


-- Gordon D. Pusch

perl -e '$_ = \n"; s/NO\.//; s/SPAM\.//; print;'
  #6  
Old October 31st 03, 06:46 PM
Henry Spencer
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Default Jupiter question

In article ,
Larry G wrote:
Here's a question I've always wondered about. How come no space probe (that
I'm aware of) has taken photos inside Jupiter's (or any of the large
planets') atmosphere?


Because there has only ever been one probe into Jupiter's atmosphere --
the Galileo atmosphere probe -- and various design limitations (not least,
the fact that it was built with early-1970s electronics) made a camera
impossible there.

Or at least photos from a very low orbit.


Very low Jupiter orbits tend to involve very high radiation doses and are
most unhealthy for electronics. The only probe that has really passed low
over Jupiter was Pioneer 11, which made one quick flyby; it had only a
very simple camera system, and didn't get many pictures, especially from
high-radiation areas where the camera kept having to be reset.

Both Galileo and its probe passed through such altitudes on their way into
Jupiter, of course, but the probe had no camera and Galileo's antenna
problems prevented real-time image transmission during its last hours.

...Are there any known plans to send a probe that could
withstand the extreme temps (or gravity?) to achieve such a feat?


There is interest in doing more Jupiter atmosphere probes -- especially
since Galileo's probe, annoyingly enough, seems to have gone into a fairly
unusual area and so we're not sure how its data generalizes to Jupiter's
atmosphere as a whole -- but so far, no funded missions.
--
MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well. |
  #7  
Old October 31st 03, 08:35 PM
Andrew Gray
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Default Jupiter question

In article , Larry G wrote:
Here's a question I've always wondered about. How come no space probe (that
I'm aware of) has taken photos inside Jupiter's (or any of the large
planets') atmosphere? Or at least photos from a very low orbit.

I think this would be fascinating. Is it because the atmospheric
temperature would melt the probe/camera before it reached the low orbit
and/or descent? Are there any known plans to send a probe that could
withstand the extreme temps (or gravity?) to achieve such a feat?


Bear in mind there have only ever been two probes to do anything more
than a flyby of the gas giants, and one of those is still en-route...

Galileo did carry a small probe to be dropped into Jupiter, but a
variety of reasons - the very limited amount of data transmission that
was possible being a major one - meant that equipping it for photography
wasn't a reasonable option. I've seen the decision characterised as
"some interesting science, or two photographs".

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...0spsystems.net
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...0spsystems.net
(& following thread)
for a couple of posts discussing it; there's more, but I don't want to
spend all evening googling g

Cassini also has an entry probe, but this is designed to be dropped onto
Titan - undeniably a more interesting target...

--
-Andrew Gray

  #8  
Old November 1st 03, 02:43 AM
Mike Miller
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Default Jupiter question

"Larry G" wrote in message ...
Here's a question I've always wondered about. How come no space probe (that
I'm aware of) has taken photos inside Jupiter's (or any of the large
planets') atmosphere? Or at least photos from a very low orbit.


Galileo dropped a probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, but it did not have
a camera. I don't recall the reason why. The probe successfully
entered the atmosphere, deployed its parachute, and radio'd
atmospheric chemistry data back to Galileo/Earth.

So it's quite possible to do this, it just hasn't been done, and
voyages to the major planets are infrequent.

Mike Miller, Materials Engineer
  #9  
Old November 9th 03, 09:18 PM
Brian Gaff
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Default Jupiter question How about radar?

I just wondered if it might be possible to get some radar images of Jupiter
so that the clouds could be 'seen' at the different levels. It was indeed
intriguing that the probe seems to have contradicted what everyone supposed
was the case, or did it just hit a strange point by a fluke? I'm not up in
the current radar imaging techniques, but I just sort of wondered....

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
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  #10  
Old November 10th 03, 04:47 AM
Henry Spencer
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Default Jupiter question How about radar?

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
I just wondered if it might be possible to get some radar images of Jupiter
so that the clouds could be 'seen' at the different levels.


I'm sure it's been tried -- there's been radar work done on the Galilean
satellites -- but I don't recall ever seeing any results (not that it's an
area I follow much). For a guess, you just don't see very much -- radar
astronomy is primarily for surfaces, you don't get major reflections from
clouds.

It was indeed
intriguing that the probe seems to have contradicted what everyone supposed
was the case, or did it just hit a strange point by a fluke?


It was understood before arrival, from ground and Hubble observations,
that the probe entry point had a high probability of being abnormal, by
sheer bad luck of what atmospheric features happened to be there at the
time. But nobody knows for sure *how* abnormal it was.
--
MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well. |
 




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