Armada Halley is the unofficial name for a series of five spacecraft from different countries (USSR, Japan, European countries (ESA members)) created and launched in the mid-80s of the last century in order to study Halley's comet .
Content
Background
(Section will be added later)
Devices
The list below is compiled in chronological order (in which the devices started from the ground):
- Vega 1
- Vega 2
- Sakigake
- Giotto
- Suisei
Research Program
The research programs of all five devices seemed to complement each other. On the Vega devices powerful optical devices were installed to study the nucleus and internal coma . The Giotto was well equipped to study cometary plasma. Suisei studied the outer part of the coma and the effect of the solar wind on it. "Sakigake" investigated comet ions and their interaction with the solar plasma [1] .
Other studies
In addition to the “armada”, several more spacecraft launched earlier to study other objects were involved in the study of Halley’s comet:
- Pioneer 7
- Pioneer-Venus-1 (conducted research from the orbit of Venus)
- International Cometary Explorer (ICE), originally known as Explorer 59, and International Sun / Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3)
- Astron (conducted studies from Earth orbit)
It was also planned to conduct observations during two missions of the Challenger space shuttle ( STS-51L [2] and STS 61-E [planned for March 1986]), but the Challenger crash during the launch of the first mission on January 28, 1986 led to the death of the ship and seven astronauts. The space platform for the study of comets " ASTRO-1 ", which was supposed to launch the second mission [3] , in connection with the suspension of the American manned flight program after the crash, was launched into orbit only in December 1990 by the Columbia mission STS-35 [4 ] .
Armada devices
| Armada Halley | |
|---|---|
Vega (USSR) | Sakigake (Japan) |
Giotto (ESA) | Suisei (Japan) |
Notes
- ↑ Avanesov, Frost, 1988 , p. 218.
- ↑ STS-51L . NASA Kennedy Space Center. Date of treatment January 7, 2010. Archived on August 20, 2011.
- ↑ Shayler DJ and Burgess C. Ending of eras // NASA's Scientist-Astronauts . - Praxis, 2007 .-- P. 431-476. - ISBN 0387218971 .
- ↑ STS-35 (38) . NASA Date of treatment January 7, 2010. Archived on August 20, 2011.
Literature
- Avanesov G.A., Moroz V.I. Kernel of Halley's comet // Science and Humanity , 1988. - M .: Knowledge , 1988. - P. 214—231 .