The Giotto Extended Mission (GEM) - High risk, high payoff
Abstract
In February 1990, ESA began reactivation of the Giotto spacecraft, which had been dormant for the previous four years, via the omnidirectional low-gain antenna mounted atop the Giotto. By the end of April 1990, spacecraft temperatures had been reduced to levels at which the experiments could be activated; of the original complement of ten experiment modules, the magnetometer, energetic particle analyzer, and optical probe experiment were fully functional, and an additional three instruments were partly damaged but usable. A mission that targetted Comet Grigg-Skjellerup 214 million km from the earth was then put into effect.
- Publication:
-
ESA Bulletin
- Pub Date:
- February 1993
- Bibcode:
- 1993ESABu..73...32N
- Keywords:
-
- Giotto Mission;
- Halley'S Comet;
- Interplanetary Space;
- Risk;
- Synchronous Satellites;
- Transfer Orbits;
- Ariane Launch Vehicle;
- European Space Agency;
- Grigg-Skjellerup Comet;
- Target Recognition;
- Astronautics (General)