Don Savage
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                                       
March 3, 1994
(Phone:  202/358-1547)

Franklin O'Donnell
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone:  818/354-5011)


RELEASE:  94-34

GALILEO SPACECRAFT SIGHTS PROBABLE MOON OF ASTEROID IDA

     NASA's Galileo spacecraft observed what is probably a natural 
satellite of the asteroid Ida -- which would be the first moon of 
an asteroid ever sighted -- during the spacecraft's flyby of Ida 
last August 28.

     The object is revealed in data samples now being transmitted 
by the spacecraft and analyzed by scientists at NASA's Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.

     Sampled data from both Galileo's solid-state imaging system 
and its near-infrared mapping spectrometer give indications of the 
object.

     Because Galileo has been transmitting data back to Earth at a 
low rate of 40 bits per second, a complete image of the suspected 
moon will first become available in about 3 weeks.

     Galileo has completed nearly 90 percent of its 
2.4-billion-mile (3.8-billion-kilometer) journey to Jupiter.  
Galileo will go into orbit around the giant planet after exploring 
the atmosphere with an instrumented probe on Dec. 7, 1995.  

     JPL manages the Galileo Project for NASA's Office of Space 
Science, Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

                             - end -