page_title: Galileo (spacecraft)
section_title: Dust Detector Subsystem (DDS)
hierarchical_section_title: Galileo (spacecraft) / Spacecraft / Instrumentation details / Spun section / Dust Detector Subsystem (DDS)
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of the Dust Detector Subsystem (DDS) instrument that was incorporated into the Galileo spacecraft.
context_page_description: Galileo was an American uncrewed spacecraft that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar System bodies. Named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, it consisted of an orbiter and an entry probe. It was delivered into Earth orbit on October 18, 1989 by Space Shuttle Atlantis. Galileo arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, after gravitational assist flybys of Venus and Earth, and became the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter. It launched the first probe into Jupiter, directly measuring its atmosphere. Despite suffering major antenna problems, Galileo achieved the first asteroid flyby, of 951 Gaspra, and discovered the first asteroid moon, Dactyl, around 243 Ida. In 1994, Galileo observed Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9's collision with Jupiter.
  Jupiter's atmospheric composition and ammonia clouds were recorded, the clouds possibly created by outflows from the lower depths of the atmosphere. Io's volcanism and plasma interactions with Jupiter's atmosphere were also recorded.
context_section_description: The Dust Detector Subsystem (DDS) was used to measure the mass, electric charge, and velocity of incoming particles. The masses of dust particles that the DDS could detect go from 10⁻¹⁶ to 10⁻⁷ grams. The speed of these small particles could be measured over the range of 1 to 70 kilometers per second (0.6 to 43.5 mi/s). The instrument could measure impact rates from 1 particle per 115 days (10 megaseconds) to 100 particles per second. Such data was used to help determine dust origin and dynamics within the magnetosphere. The DDS weighed 4.2 kg (9.3 lb) and used an average of 5.4 watts of power.
caption: Dust Detector Subsystem
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