NASA to crash Galileo probe into Jupiter

USA Today ^ | 09/15/03 | Staff Writer

[bedolido]

PASADENA, Calif. (AP)

[Joe Hadenuf]

What's more absurd? The waste of $1.5 billion for more pretty pictures of planets and useless analyses, OR concerns for the ecology of a planetary moon while turds float in the bay where I live?

New Jersey? Try tossing a match in it, maybe it will ignite.

[COBOL2Java]

Makes ya wonder if we were the result of a probe manufactured by the lowest bidder :-)

---

Deteriorata

(National Lampoon)

[Chorus Singing](You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here. Deteriorata, Deteriorata)

Go placidly amidst the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof. Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep. Rotate your tires. Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself; and heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys. Know what to kiss - and when. Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do. Wherever possible, put people on hold. Be comforted, that in the face of all irridity and disillusionment, and despite the changing fortunes of time, there is always a big future in computer maintenance.

[Chorus](You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here. Whether you can hear it or not, The universe is laughing behind your back.)

Remember the Pueblo. Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate. Know yourself. If you need help, call the FBI. Exercise caution in your daily affairs, especially with those persons closest to you... That lemon on your left, for instance. Be assured that a walk through the seas of most souls would scarcely get your feet wet. Fall not in love, therefore, it will stick to your face. Gracefully surrender the things of youth: the birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan - and let not the sands of time get in your lunch. Hire people with hooks. For a good time, call 606-4311, ask for Ken. Take heart in the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting enough cheese. And reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lot, it could only be worse in Milwaukee.

[Chorus](You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here. Whether you can hear it or not, The universe is laughing behind your back.)

Therefore, make peace with your god, whatever you perceive him to be: hairy thunderer or cosmic muffin. With all its hopes, dreams, promises, and urban renewal, the world continues to deteriorate. GIVE UP!

[Chorus](You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here. Whether you can hear it or not, The universe is laughing behind your back.)

[and the horse you rode in on]

The theory is, this project creates "Lucifer!"

Plutonium fuel on Galileo reacts to the high pressure, and like a small match starting a big forest fire, ignites Jupiter!

Possible if the ignition explosion is deep enough.
It would not be a steady state sun, becuse Jupiter is not dense enough. It would heat up and expand as it did. Eventually, the density would become too light to sustain fusion and would "go out". The Jupiter Sun would then begin to collapse, releasing gravitational energy as heat and light. It is possible that it would re-ignite spontaneously when it had fully collapsed.

[inquest]

Would there even be anything left of the planet at that point?

[Rick.Donaldson]

Obviously you're really Richard C. Hoagland in disguse, aren't you? (LOL!) Masonics indeed.

[StriperSniper]

I wonder what kind of microbes?

The kind that make yogurt?

No, the kind that make beer.

Jim Koch is trying to top himself again, he's not happy with 'Millennium', he's looking to turn Jupiter into a giant kettle to brew 'Interplanetary'. ;-) Hic!

[ActionNewsBill]

Obviously you're really Richard C. Hoagland in disguse, aren't you? (LOL!) Masonics indeed.

I guess my secret is out in the open now. How did you guess?

[F16Fighter]

"New Jersey? Try tossing a match in it, maybe it will ignite."

Only if you promise to get your mini-Hubble out, snap a photo of the incineration, and post the pic on your FR profle page.

[Joe Hadenuf]

LOL.......

[scan58]

haiku?

[RadioAstronomer]

How? In December 1999, Galileo will deliver a 49.7-pound load of plutonium used to power the craft into the heart of Jupiter. The end result will be a huge atomic reaction, and a newborn star that Cooper has dubbed Lucifer.

This is not possible. RTG's do not carry weapons grade material. In fact, they do not use a fission process at all. they only use decay heat.

[theFIRMbss]

>This is not possible. RTG's do not carry weapons grade material. In fact, they do not use a fission process at all...

I have, now, gold leaf
over my tin foil. Others
have raised your same thoughts,

and tin foil hardcores
have -- of course -- whipped up answers
rich in, at least, words:



---------------------------------------------------------

While 238Pu is fissionable, it has been advertised as not fissile, or in others words this would mean it can produce a fission reaction that is difficult to sustain, but a 1962 test proved Pu-238 to be very fissile:

"The Department of Energy is providing additional information related to a 1962 underground nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site that used reactor-grade [Pu-238 and Pu-240] plutonium in the nuclear explosive.

Specifically: -A successful test was conducted in 1962, which used reactor-grade plutonium in the nuclear explosive in place of weapon-grade [Pu-239] plutonium. –The yield was less than 20 kilotons.

Background: This test was conducted to obtain nuclear design information concerning the feasibility of using reactor-grade plutonium as the nuclear explosive material. –The test confirmed that reactor-grade plutonium could be used to make a nuclear explosive. This fact was declassified in July 1977 . … In short it would be quite possible for a potential proliferator to make a nuclear explosive from reactor-grade plutonium using a simple design that would be assured of having a yield in the range of one to a few kilotons, and more using an advanced design." 8

The Nuclear Control Institute (NCI) stated that reactor-grade plutonium could be more desirable for a simple bomb because it eliminates the need to use a neutron initiator. 9 In addition to these facts, note the following in a report entitled "Plutonium-238, Use, Origin and Properties":

"If Pu-238 sits in the reactor long enough, it will absorb a neutron and become Pu-239 fuel." ...

[VxH]

Got Fins?

[theFIRMbss]

>...Galileo will slip behind Jupiter at 12:49 p.m. PT Sunday and then plunge into its vibrant and stormy atmosphere...

Galileo hits
the clouds Sunday. That's Sunday...
Get it? It's Sun-day...

[theFIRMbss]

Check out this great site!
They've got cool animations
of the crash itself,

and all sorts of views
of the scene from perspectives
throughout the system...

[JPJones]

Hoagland, on enterprisemission.com, is now showing pictures of a huge brown spot on jupiter and says that the probe did indeed explode....