Customer Reviews

Mission Jupiter : The Spectacular Journey of the Galileo Spacecraft

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For planetary astronomy fans, the book is great: chock full of pictures and engineering detail. (The slipcover is also lovely -- I wish I had it as a poster!) The writing is workmanlike and shows that the author's first language is not English, but it does the job. For the casual reader, though, the technical detail may be too much.
One gripe: the paper is a glossy bond that smudges and holds fingerprints something awful. This would have been fine for the photo pages, but *all* the pages are like that.
All in all, a good book and a much-needed addition to any space-lover's bookshelf.

An interesting look at the space program from a non-american source, that gives the reader a text free of the usual "national" chauvinism (and a little bit a German-centric comments!).

But, most of all, it's an excellent source of information about the Galileo probe, from its 1970 original concepts to its long-delayed launch (which makes you wonder if NASA really cares about science). You will also find an excellent (and, of course, premature) synthesis of what we thought we knew about Jupiter and its moons, and what we think we now know...

Even though this english edition has been revised since the original 1998 German release, especially about Europa, you can expect most of its scientific content to be outdated in a few years from now... but, no, you shouldn't wait for another book, because the Viking probes, 25 years after their mission, are still giving up some secrets about Mars. So you can expect a few decades of data mining before having exhausted the information locked up in the Galileo database.

Enjoy your trip!

Galileo is probably one of the most significant NASA missions since the Voyager pair. Here, Fischer covers both the background and the latest findings (as of presstime, anyway) of the mission.

The background is copious but appropriate, covering prior missions such as Pioneers 10 and 11 and the aforementioned Voyagers, as well as a brief history of Jupiter astronomy, going clear back to Galileo himself and his discovery of the moons of Jupiter.

The history of the mission is covered in detail, from conception through to execution with all its trials and tribulations. Bumps in the road such as the mission rescoping following the Challenger disaster and the failure of the primary antenna are covered thoroughly with no punches pulled.

Findings are covered, fortunately, in topical order rather than in chronological, with sections devoted to each of the major moons as well as Jupiter itself.

The book is translated from the German, though despite this it's consistently clear and easy to follow. There are at least two occasions when a wrong word is clearly used, however, once where "degrees" is used instead of "astronomical units," and another I simply didn't understand. But this is just one of my necessary quibbles, and overall the book is impressively readable. I strongly recommend it for those interested in the subject

A must-read for any Jupiterphile. Fischer presents an in-depth look at the science behind the Galileo mission to Jupiter. From the history behind the probe, going all the way back to the 1970's, to the budget cutting, to the eventual launch and failure of the high-gain antenna. It's all covered in this volume, with exquisite detail and enough science content to take you well beyond the press releases. Highly recommended!