September 20, 2003: Arrivederci, Galileo

After eight years of service yielding a treasure trove of scientific data on Jupiter and its moons, the Galileo spacecraft is being deliberately crashed into Jupiter this weekend. Why? To avoid even the slightest chance that hitchhiking terrestrial microbes will accidentally contaminate Europa and compromise the scientific search for life there.

The San Francisco Chronicle has the story. (CNN has a story as well, although they can't spell Ganymede.) And if you want to see how that nifty scientific data translates into game terms, check out Transhuman Space: Deep Beyond, the supplement for Transhuman Space covering the outer solar system.

-- Scott Haring

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