Sakigake
Sakigake spacecraft | |
Mission type | Comet flyby |
---|---|
Operator | ISAS |
COSPAR ID | 1985-001A |
SATCAT no. | 15464 |
Mission duration | 10 years and 10 months (launch date to date of last data transmission) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Launch mass | 138.1 kilograms (304 lb)[1] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | January 7, 1985, 19:27 (1985-01-07UTC19:27Z) UTC |
Rocket | Mu-3SII |
Launch site | Kagoshima |
End of mission | |
Last contact | Data: November 15, 1995 (1995-11-16) Beacon: January 8, 1999 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Heliocentric |
Perihelion altitude | 0.92 astronomical units |
Aphelion altitude | 1.15 astronomical units |
Inclination | 0.07 degrees |
Period | 382.8 days |
Flyby of 1P/Halley | |
Closest approach | March 11, 1986, 04:18 UTC |
Distance | 6,990,000 kilometres (4,340,000 mi) |
Sakigake (さきがけ, lit. 'pioneer', 'pathfinder'), known before launch as MS-T5, was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft, and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the USA or the Soviet Union. It aimed to demonstrate the performance of the new launch vehicle, test its ability to escape from Earth gravity, and observe the interplanetary medium and magnetic field. Sakigake was also supposed to act as a frame of reference for data received from probes that flew closer to Halley's Comet. Early measurements would be used to improve the mission of the Suisei probe launched several months later.
Sakigake was developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science for the National Space Development Agency (both of which are now part of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA). It became a part of the Halley Armada together with Suisei, the Soviet Vega probes, the ESA Giotto and the NASA International Cometary Explorer, to explore Halley's Comet during its 1986 sojourn through the inner Solar System.
Design
Unlike its twin Suisei, it carried no imaging instruments in its instrument payload.
Launch
Sakigake was launched January 7, 1985, from Kagoshima Space Center by M-3SII launch vehicle on M-3SII-1 mission.
Halley encounter
It carried out a flyby of Halley's Comet on March 11, 1986 at a distance of 6.99 Gm.
Giacobini-Zinner encounter
There were plans for the spacecraft to go on to an encounter with 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in 1998 but the flyby had to be abandoned due to lack of propellant.
End of mission
Telemetry contact was lost on November 15, 1995, though a beacon signal continued to be received until January 7, 1999.[2][3]
References
External links
- Sakigake
- Sakigake Mission Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
- Halley's Comet Flyby
- Sakigake Mission Comet Halley Data Archive at the NASA Planetary Data System, Small Bodies Node
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- New Horizons (multiple flybys)
- OSIRIS-APEX (orbiter)
- Hayabusa2♯ (lander)
- Lucy (multiple flybys)
- LICIACube (flyby)
- Psyche (orbiter)
Flybys |
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Orbiters |
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Landers |
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Impactors |
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Sample return |
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- Hera (orbiter, 2024)
- AIDA
- DESTINY+ (multiple flybys, 2025)
- Tianwen-2 (multiple flybys and sample return, 2025)
- MBR Explorer (multiple flybys and orbiter, 2028)
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- HAMMER (nuclear impactor concept)
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- OKEANOS (multiple flybys and sample return, 2026)
- World Is Not Enough (spacecraft refueling concept)
- Interstellar Probe (flyby, 2030–2042)
not developed
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- Asteroid Redirect Mission
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- Probes are listed in chronological order of launch. † indicates mission failures.