QUESTION:
We would like to ask what the moon-encounter schedule will be for
the two-year extended mission, if it is approved.

ANSWER from Jan Ludwinski on March 4, 1997:
NASA made a proposal for Galileo to do a two-year follow-on mission after its
prime mission is over on 7 December 1997.  The follow-on mission will becalled
the Galileo Europa Mission, or GEM.  NASA's proposal to pay for GEM is part of
the 1998 budget that the President has asked Congress to fund.  

The GEM will start with 8 close flybys of Europa.  Galileo will use its radio
signal to map Europa's gravity field on all 8 of these flybys, and there will be
lots of pictures and infrared and ultraviolet observations and measurements
taken by the fields and particles instruments on 7 of these flybys.  As long as
Galileo is still working after the Europa flybys, the spacecraft will then head
for Io, using 4 flybys of Callisto to change its orbit so that it can get down
to the orbit of Io.  In October 1999, the spacecraft will fly less than 1000 km
above Io, providing the spectacular opportunity to "look down the throat" of one
or more of Io's volcanoes.  A second encounter with Io is possible in late Nov 
99 provided the spacecraft is still working at that time.
The actual schedule of the encounters follows:
Orbit       Encounter Date
-----       --------------
E12            16 Dec 97
E13            10 Feb 98
E14            29 Mar 98
E15            31 May 98
E16            21 Jul 98
E17            26 Sep 98
E18            22 Nov 98
E19             1 Feb 99
C20             5 May 99
C21            30 Jun 99
C22            14 Aug 99
C23            16 Sep 99
I24            11 Oct 99
I25            26 Nov 99