Health check on Giotto

Details Health check on Giotto Health check on Giotto

Apr 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993spfl...35..113f&link_type=abstract

Spaceflight (ISSN 0038-6340), vol. 35, no. 4, p. 113-115.

Physics

Giotto Mission, Service Life, Spacecraft Reliability, Flyby Missions, Solar Arrays, Spacecraft Antennas, Spacecraft Communication, Spacecraft Power Supplies, Spacecraft Structures

Scientific paper

Operational capability of the Giotto spacecraft after the encounter with Comet Grigg-Skjellerup on July 10th 1992 was assessed using analysis of housekeeping telemetry files available at ESOC. It is concluded that Giotto remained in good health throughout Grigg-Skjellerup operations. The total mission duration exceeds seven years, during which time the spacecraft has survived two cometary encounters, two prolonged periods of hibernation, two reactivations, a gravity-assisted earth flyby, and hot and cold thermal conditions considerably outside design limits. However, there is little prospect of a further follow-on mission for the following reasons: the remaining propellant is insufficient for a third cometary flyby; power and thermal constraints will require temperature limit relaxations, switch-off of nonessential units and heaters, and a carefully optimized thermal strategy; and factors including redundancy, extreme temperatures, dust damage, and a significantly extended lifetime make Giotto increasingly vulnerable to reliability, lifetime, and aging effects.

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