The Galileo spacecraft just wouldn't lie down! So NASA sent it out on one more mission: five more flybys of the Jovian moons before its final nosedive into the crushing pressure of the giant planet's atmosphere in a kamikazi burst of glory.
        An intermittent electronic problem affected the camera for more than a year. (Project engineers say it was probably due to cumulative exposure to intense natural radiation near Jupiter.) Then, as if making a last-ditch effort to save its own life, Galileo's camera started functioning again. The final reprive was recommended to NASA by a blue-ribbon panel of planetary scientists last July. The fact that it costs a paltry $9 million inspired the panel to say, "This mission extension accomplishes the highest priorities of the review panel in a cost effective way."
        A first look at the data already suggests that Io's internally generated magnetic field is either absent or quite weak, said the principal investigator for Galileo's magnetometer instrument, Dr. Margaret Kivelson of the University of California, Los Angeles. Stronger conclusions will have to await more analysis. The science goal for the August 6 and October 16, 2001 flybys was to learn whether Io has an intrinsic magnetic field. "We're expecting to get images from five of the 16 planned observations, including global images of Io," one scientist said at the time. Stored data on Galileo's tape recorder from the camera and other instruments continued to arrive at Earth antennas of the JPL-managed Deep Space Network throughout the following eight weeks.
        Galileo orbited Jupiter for over 6 years! After its original two-year tour of the Jovian system, NASA extended the intrepid robot's mission three times to take advantage of its continuing ability to return valuable scientific information. The spacecraft handled more than three times as much radiation from Jupiter's radiation belts as it was engineered to withstand. Its nuclear electrical power source provided reliable electricity for its on-board instruments, computers, radio and other systems.