Posted: Tue, Nov 26, 2002, 8:58 AM ET (1358 GMT)
The Galileo spacecraft has returned to normal operations but its data recorder is still malfunctioning, project officials announced Monday. Galileo went into safe mode 16 minutes after its flyby of Jupiter's inner moon Amalthea on November 5. Engineers were able to restore contact with the spacecraft and restore it from safe mode on November 13, but have been unable to date to get its tape recorder working. Officials said they believe radiation damaged an LED or optical transistor in circuitry that controls the tape recorder, on which data collected by Galileo's instruments during the Amalthea flyby are stored. Engineers are still looking into ways to fix the recorder so it can return data from the flyby, the last the spacecraft will make during its mission. Galileo collected data about dust in the vicinity of Amalthea, as well as the field and particle environment close to the planet. The spacecraft remains on course to plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere in September 2003.

Related Links:

•  JPL Galileo status report