JPL built the Galileo spacecraft and managed the Galileo program for NASA, but West Germany's Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm supplied the propulsion module, and Ames managed the atmospheric probe, which was built by the Hughes Aircraft Company. At launch, the orbiter and probe together had a mass of and stood tall. There were twelve experiments on the orbiter and seven on the atmospheric probe. The orbiter was powered by a pair of general-purpose heat source radioisotope thermoelectric generators (GPHS-RTGs) fueled by plutonium-238 that generated 570 watts at launch. The atmospheric probe had a lithium–sulfur battery rated at 730 watt-hours.
JPL built the Galileo spacecraft and managed the Galileo program for NASA, but West Germany's Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm supplied the propulsion module, and Ames managed the atmospheric probe which was built by the Hughes Aircraft Company At launch the orbiter and probe together had a mass of and stood tall. There were twelve experiments on the orbiter and seven on the atmospheric probe. The orbiter was powered by a pair of general-purpose heat source radioisotope thermoelectric generators (GPHS-RTGs) fueled by plutonium-238 that generated 570 watts at launch. The atmospheric probe had a lithium–sulfur battery rated at 730 watt-hours.