Spacecraft exploring Jupiter system develops problem

10.19 p.m. ET (319 GMT) February 1, 1999

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The Galileo spacecraft halted all non-essential activities by going into a "safe mode'' shortly after close approaches to the moon Europa and Jupiter.

The spacecraft was stable and information it sent suggested that observations of Europa were successfully stored in its tape recorder, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Monday.

In a safe mode, a spacecraft automatically tries to maintain contact with Earth while halting non-essential activities.

The incident occurred about four hours after a flyby within 900 miles of the surface of Europa and one hour after passing within 360,000 miles of Jupiter's atmosphere.

The encounter called for turns to point instruments at Europa and then turning back to a position pointing more directly toward Earth.

Project team members were analyzing the problem. Preliminary analysis indicated that Galileo went into safe mode after software designed to watch out for faults detected that the spacecraft was taking too long to complete a turn.

Galileo was launched in 1989 and arrived at Jupiter on Dec. 7, 1995. It completed its $1.5 billion primary mission and is halfway through an $30 million extended mission focusing on Europa and other moons.

Sunday's was the last of eight Europa encounters during the extended mission, which anticipates 14 different orbits around Jupiter.