FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2001

Media Contact:
Jason Perry
Fax +1-413-618-2831
volcanopele@netzero.net

Keep Galileo's Eyes Open, Say Petitioning Scientists

Leavenworth, KS - NASA recently extended the successful Galileo spacecraft's
mission until January
2003 to continue study of Jupiter's fascinating moons, particularly the
extremely volcanic moon Io.
Io - the most active world yet discovered - features modes of eruption not
seen on Earth for
billions of years, mountains taller than Mt. Everest, and a unique and
poorly understood surface
chemistry based on sulfur. But scientists say that a planned powerdown of
Galileo's imaging suite at
the end of this year will hamstring efforts to solve Io's many mysteries.

NASA has funded Galileo's instrument package through 2001 to include two
further flybys of Io. NASA
has also planned another Io flyby, during Galileo's thirty-third orbit
(I33), on January 17, 2002.
Dipping to within 100 km (62 miles) of Io's surface - lower than any
previous Jupiter-system flyby -
Galileo will fly over Io's sub-jovian hemisphere, which has never been
imaged before at high
resolution.

Unfortunately, funding for all imaging during the I33 flyby has recently
been withdrawn, and the
only chance to image the mysterious features on this hemisphere of Io at
high resolution will be
lost unless the decision is reversed.

The only images of this hemisphere returned from Galileo so far have been at
low resolution, taken
at very long range during the orbital tour - show several gigantic volcanoes
and still-hot lava
fields of varying composition. If funds are reinstated, Galileo will image
the mountains Hi'iaka,
Gish Bar, and Pan, a pair of enigmatic lava domes named Apis and Inachus
Tholi, and the volcanoes
Kanehekili and Mbali. Galileo will also measure the temperature of the
volcanoes Kanehekili,
Prometheus, Marduk, and Pillan and search for hot spots, which provide clues
to the way Io
dissipates its tidal heat.

"Every time we look at Io we see something unexpected and amazing. I33 gives
Io one more chance to
blow our socks off! The fact that we will be looking at a hemisphere not
seen close-up since Voyager
increases the chances of new and surprising discoveries," commented John
Spencer of the Lowell
Observatory.

"This is an exceptional opportunity to view Io's Jupiter facing hemisphere
at high-resolution using
Galileo's remote sensing capabilities. We have already done a lot of the
necessary work. The
observations are already planned and designed. Nobody wants to miss this
unique chance," says Rosaly
Lopes of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Jason Perry, a high school junior from Leavenworth, Kansas, has created a
petition to persuade NASA
to reverse its decision. The petition - "Pennies for Pele" - was started on
March 30, 2001 and has
already been signed by 301 Io scientists and others from around the world.

The cost of performing remote sensing during the January 2002 flyby is only
$1.5 million dollars.
This represents 0.1% of the funds spent to send Galileo to Jupiter, and a
ten-thousandth of NASA's
annual budget.

"The funding/science ratio for imaging at the January 2002 flyby is
ridiculously cheap. Considering
the amount of money it took us to get there, not funding I33 imaging makes
absolutely no sense,"
commented Joseph Plassmann of the Planetary Image Research Laboratory in
Tucson, Arizona.

It is hoped that 1000 signatures can be obtained before August 6, the date
of the next Io flyby.
Copies of the petition will then be passed to the NASA's Office of Space
Science.

The petition can be signed online at:- http://fullspeed.to/Io