FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1985
1985 - 0121.PDF
INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE DIRECTORY particle tracer explorers. Geos-2, equipped to measure electric fields in the Earth's magnetosphere, was launched in June 1978 and completed its planned mission in July 1980. The spacecraft was reac tivated in 1981 and operated until the end in 1983. In January 1984 Geos-2 was moved from geostationary orbit to a slightly higher, asynchronous orbit. The spacecraft now drifts 3 • 5° longitude a day. Geos-2 was reactivated in September 1984 for a period of one year. Giotto The European Space Agency's Giotto probe will pass within 500km of the nucleus of Halley's comet on March 13, 1986, in the closest of several encounters planned for this latest apparition. Mission Giotto will be launched by Ariane 1 in July 1985 (there is a four-week launch window), and will intercept Halley's comet as it crosses the plane of the ecliptic in March 1986, some 150 million km from Earth. Two Soviet craft, Vega 1 and 2, will intercept Halley ahead of Giotto and will provide accurate data on nucleus location to enable Giotto to accomplish its 500km flyby. The encoun ter will last 4hr, during which time Giotto will take one colour picture every 4sec with a resolution of 20m at best. Closing speed will be 69km/sec, and Giotto is unlikely to survive its encounter with the comet. Payload Ten experiments weighing 58kg. In addition to the TV camera, Giotto will carry mass spectrometers to determine cometary composition, plasma experiments, a magnetometer to detect the interaction of the comet with the solar wind, and two radio science experiments. Owner European Space Agency Manufacturer British Aerospace, lead ing Star consortium Launch by Ariane in July 1985 Stabilisation spin Power 0-lkW Weight (at launch) 750kg Cost $130m (1984) Remarks Instruments will be protected from cometary dust during the high-speed encounter by a dual-sheet bumper shield. Data will be transmitted back to Earth in real time (40,000bits/sec) via a despun high-gain antenna. GRO Nasa's gamma ray observatory (GRO) is a follow-on to the third high-energy astron omy observatory, HEAO-3, and will be the first to observe the full range of gamma rays from lOOKeV to lOOMeV (one photon of visible light is leV) Payload transient event monitor high-energy gamma-ray tele scope medium-energy imaging tele scope low-energy gamma-ray tele scope Owner Nasa mFLIGHT International, 12 January 1985 Europe's Giotto is prepared for solar simulation testing in preparation for its eight-month flight to intercept Halley's comet in March 1986 Manufacturer TRW Space and Defence Systems Orbit circular, 400km high, inclined 28-5° Launch by Shuttle in May 1988 Stabilisation 3-axis Weight (at launch) 10,430kg Cost C$250m Remarks GRO will detect sources ten times fainter than those previously observed. Hipparcos The European Space Agency's Hipparcos astronomy satellite is designed to measure the positions, parallaxes, and proper motions of some 100,000 reference stars to an accuracy of within one to two thou sandths of an arc-second. Payload two-field-of-view Baker- Schmidt telescopes Owner European Space Agency Manufacturer Matra, leading Mesh consortium Orbit near geostationary, inclination less than 3° Launch by Ariane early in 1988 Stabilisation slow spin (for scanning) Power (end of life) 0 • 3kW Weight (at launch) 1,050kg Design life 2-5 years 49
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
