Galileo (spacecraft) - End of Mission and Deorbit

End of Mission and Deorbit

Once its fuel supply was nearly depleted, Galileo was intentionally commanded to crash into Jupiter to eliminate any chance of a future impact with Europa that could contaminate the icy moon with terrestrial bacteria. In order to crash into Jupiter, Galileo flew by Amalthea on November 5, 2002, during its 34th orbit, allowing a measurement of the moon's mass as it passed within 163.0 kilometres (101.3 mi) ± 11.7 kilometres (7.3 mi) of its surface. On April 14, 2003, Galileo reached its greatest distance from Jupiter for the entire mission, 26,000,000 kilometres (16,000,000 mi), before plunging back towards the gas giant for its final impact. At the completion of its 35th and final circuit around the Jovian system, Galileo impacted the gas giant in darkness just south of the equator on September 21, 2003, at 18:57 GMT. Its impact speed was approximately 173,736 kilometres per hour (107,955 mph).