SOUTHLAND : Galileo’s Trajectory Reshaped
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The Galileo spacecraft, looping through the solar system on the way to its 1995 exploration of Jupiter, fired its thrusters today in a major maneuver meant to steer it near Earth late this year.
“We’re trying to reshape the trajectory slightly so we move closer and closer to our aim point near Earth on Dec. 8,” said Neal Ausman, mission director at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
Galileo’s tiny rocket thrusters, which are small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, started firing at 11:10 a.m. and will fire roughly 3,000 times by the time the maneuver ends Saturday afternoon, laboratory spokesman Jim Wilson said.
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