Heading for the Giotto encounter with Comet Halley

Details Heading for the Giotto encounter with Comet Halley Heading for the Giotto encounter with Comet Halley

Feb 1986

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986esabu..45...14m&link_type=abstract

ESA Bulletin (ISSN 0376-4265), no. 45, Feb. 1986, p. 14-20.

Computer Science

Giotto Mission, Halley'S Comet, Orbit Calculation, Satellite Orbits, Solar Orbits, Spacecraft Design, European Space Agency

Scientific paper

ESA's flight-dynamics efforts which supported the March 1986 Giotto/Comet Halley encounter are described in detail. Several tasks were necessary to ensure that Giotto passed the comet at the desired distance, and with the correct orientation for a successful data take. These tasks included the determination and prediction of the orbital movements of both the spacecraft and the comet, and the establishment of the spacecraft's attitude. The determination of Giotto's orbit was accomplished via ESA's Deep-Space Tracking System and tracking support provided by the NASA Deep-Space Network; the comet's orbit was ascertained by the IUE satellite and various earth observatories. The influences of spacecraft design are discussed, and it is noted that the spacecraft's attitude had to satisfy several constraints: (1) the despun high-gain antenna had to be kept earth-pointing to maintain the telecommunications link with the spacecraft; and (2) the spacecraft's solar aspect angle had to be kept within certain limits for the body-mounted solar arrays to generate enough power and to ensure that the spacecraft did not heat up or cool down beyond the allowed temperature limits. The data exchange among ESA, NASA and Intercosmos is also discussed.

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