# That "Galileo thing" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459 "2003-09-13T23:25:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cerberus1949](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@cerberus1949](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus1949)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/1 "2003-09-13T23:25:53Z")
I understand that NASA is now planning on using Jupiter to absorb the now nearly used up Galileo spacecraft. Beats littering our highways I always say. Now some folks out there \<[http://yowusa.com/Archive/Sep2003/Jupiter\_attack/jupiter\_attack.htm](http://yowusa.com/Archive/Sep2003/Jupiter_attack/jupiter_attack.htm)\> are suggesting that the plutonium fuel onboard may go supercritical as the spacecraft plunges into the planet’s super-dense atmosphere, lighing Jupiter into thermonuclear burning, turning it into a tiny star, ejecting sufficient atmospheric material and radiation to kill all life on earth. Since that includes me and my family I thought I should make a small inquiry. Is this yet another bit of alarmist drivel, or should we blow the college fund before the end of September? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/2 "2003-09-13T23:34:33Z")
I know one way to find out. Wait 8 days and look up. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus1949](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@cerberus1949](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus1949)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/3 "2003-09-13T23:36:54Z")
Thanks. I’d already considered that. My question though was designed to have a somewhat longer lead time if I should dump my portfolio prior to then. ---
**Author:** ![Phage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@Phage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phage)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/4 "2003-09-13T23:37:59Z")
Why would a tiny little reactor be able to release more energy than the huge comet that struck Jupiter not too long ago? Besides, I am wondering why Jupiter would be prone to burning anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/5 "2003-09-13T23:39:51Z")
Any outfit that refers to it’s readers as “netizens” is to be distrusted. Another article on that site: “DID PLANET X KILL THE DINOSAURS?” Or, “A HITCHIKER’S GUIDE TO NIBIRU.” Whatever. Just some dumb cult. Happy first post, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus1949](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@cerberus1949](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus1949)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/6 "2003-09-13T23:42:52Z")
Well, according to the perhaps _somewhat_ alarmist folks quoted in the URL quoted in the original thread there is something like 47 pound of plutonium on board. Under the pressures and temperatures to be encounted as the spacecraft plunges head first into the Jovian atmosphere at something like 107,000 miles per hour that much plutonium _might just_ undergo fission producing up to 100,000,000 degrees in the resulting explosion which might just be able to then cause the pressurized liquid hudrogen of which Jupiter is composed to begin a thermonuclear fusion reaction – a planetary hudrogen bomb-like reaction essentially turning the planet into a miniature star. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/7 "2003-09-13T23:45:26Z")
If you believe that, I’ve got some Kool-Aid for you to drink.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/8 "2003-09-13T23:50:51Z")
I think we should ask the inhabitants of Jupiter first. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/9 "2003-09-13T23:51:39Z")
Yes it is. Jupiter didn’t explode when the comet [Shoemaker-Levy 9](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020525.html) slammed into it and left [blemishes larger than the earth in the jovian clouds](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001105.html). A few thousand pounds of plutonium and steel will produce _far_ less spectacular markings. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/10 "2003-09-14T00:01:08Z")
I’m still gonna look up. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/11 "2003-09-14T00:03:32Z")
Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragment G hit with an impact energy equivalent to 6,000,000 megatons. If that didn’t ignite Jupiter, one little space probe ain’t gonna do it. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/12 "2003-09-14T00:03:54Z")
Uncle Bill, Are you gonna wear sunglasses? Tris ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/13 "2003-09-14T00:06:12Z")
Considering that the linked website also believes in Nibiru/Planet X and crop circles, and that the space shuttle _Columbia_ was destroyed by sheets of “scalar energy,” their credibility on pretty much any issue must be called into question–particularly regarding scientific issues. They’re good for a laugh, though. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus1949](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@cerberus1949](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus1949)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/14 "2003-09-14T00:09:22Z")
“I’m still gonna look up.” An elegant solution if ever there were one, but offering very little lead time. The only reason I brought this up was in hopes someone would point out the error in their reasoning. If Galileo’s fuel were made of anything but fissible plutonium then it would make far less of a “splash” than Shoemaker-Levy 9. Since there is even a remote possibility that the plutonium fuel _might_ go critical it was in hopes of finding someone with sufficient expertise to point out why it WOULDN’T that I even bothered to post this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/15 "2003-09-14T00:09:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skopo \* > **…and that the space shuttle _Columbia_ was destroyed by sheets of "scalar energy,"** Ah, they’re 1920s style death rays, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/16 "2003-09-14T00:15:51Z")
The point is that even IF the plutonium on Galileo goes supercritical, it will STILL be far, far less than the impact of Shoemaker-Levy. It doesn’t matter if it does or not. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus1949](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@cerberus1949](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus1949)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/17 "2003-09-14T00:20:44Z")
And the thermonuclear ignition temperatures of 30,000,000 degrees were also met or exceeded by shoemaker-Levy? Cool! If that is the case then my question is answered. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/18 "2003-09-14T00:24:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Triskadecamus \* > \*\*Uncle Bill, > > Are you gonna wear sunglasses? > > Tris \*\* Of course, I live in _MIAMI_! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/19 "2003-09-14T00:54:51Z")
from the cite in the OP: > [@](#): > > It hit both of us almost at the same time, basically the [crop] circles started appearing the moment the Galileo mission headed on a one way trip to Jupiter back in 1989. It may be a coincidence, but it is an uncanny one for sure. A logical approach could be: if you were quietly watching and studying a seemingly intelligent and self-aware alien life form doing something this stupid to its environment, would you tell them? The answer to that may very well be lying in the crop fields around the world. And there you have it. A well-reasoned argument for not crashing a space probe on Jupiter: aliens are trying to tell us thru crop circles that we are destroying their environment. _I’m_ convinced. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459/20 "2003-09-14T02:01:30Z")
There are two simple responses to such a theory: 1. Bull 2. Shit [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-galileo-thing/201459.md?page=2)