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The completion of satellite missions is something that is marked like the death of an old friend among space techs.

The Galileo probe, which has travelled around Jupiter for more than ten years and contributed huge amounts of knowledge about the planet is about to be sent plunging into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

THis itself isn’t news perhaps, but what really caught my eye about this story was the consideration and planning that went into HOW to destroy Galileo. As quoted in
this article, NASA has decided to burn up Galileo to protect life that may exist on one of it’s moons:

The three-ton spacecraft is sailing through the outbound leg of its 35th and final orbit of Jupiter. It will crash into Jupiter on Sept. 21, a deliberate plunge into the dark side of the planet — out of view from Earth — at 108,000 mph.

The robotic suicide is designed to eliminate any chance that a hardy microbe, possibly alive in the radiation-shielded bowels of the spacecraft, could contaminate one of Jupiter’s moons, where subsurface oceans may harbor life.

This is such a generous act, full of reverence for life that may not even exist. It is an act that is the golden rule embodied, bringing to mind, as is happening in outer space, the Star Trek Prime Directive:

As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Star Fleet personnel may interfere with the healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes the introduction of superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Star Fleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation.

Am I alone in thinking that this is the first human action in outer space that conforms consciously to this directive?