freed@nss.FIDONET.ORG (Bev Freed) (06/16/91)
13 June 1991 ESA Release #18 GO-AHEAD FOR GIOTTO EXTENDED MISSION At its meeting on 12 and 13 June 1991, the ESA Science Programme Committee approved the recommendation of the Director of Science to accomplish the Giotto Extended Mission (GEM), i.e. to encounter Comet Grigg Skejellerup, in the framework of the Agency's mandatory science programme. Giotto, ESA's first deep space probe, was launched on 2 July 1985 by an Ariane-1 rocket from the Kourou Space Center and eight months later it encountered Halley's comet, producing remarkable pictures of that famous comet's nucleus. It was a highly dangerous mission; but Giotto survived, and was put in hibernation two weeks after the spectacular encounter. Experts at ESOC (European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany) reactivated the probe in March 1990: Giotto had been in hibernation for four years and was a hundred million km from Earth. On 2 July 1990, the spacecraft passed at a distance of 23,000 km from our planet and the first ever Earth gravity assisted mission sent Giotto speeding towards it new target: Comet Grigg Skejellerup. Giotto will set yet another record in Space: it will be the first probe to have encountered two comets. Activities for GEM are already underway -- the next major milestone will be the second reactivation in the first week of May 1992, in order to encounter Comet Grigg Skejellerup on 10 July 1992 around 3 p.m. GMT. Experts can already announce the time of the rendez-vous with this great accuracy because ESOC has put the spacecraft on a very precise orbit, so that Giotto, even without additional orbit correction maneouvres, will encounter the nucleus of Comet Grigg Skejellerup within a range of 15,000 km. With a few planned maneouvres, Giotto will come to within about 1,000 km of Grigg Skejellerup. --- Opus-CBCS 1.20.17 * Origin: NSS BBS - Ad Astra! (412)366-5208 *HST* (1:129/104.0) -- Bev Freed - via FidoNet node 1:129/104 UUCP: ...!pitt!nss!freed INTERNET: freed@nss.FIDONET.ORG
strider@acm.rpi.edu (Greg Moore) (06/16/91)
In article <457.285B3398@nss.FIDONET.ORG> freed@nss.FIDONET.ORG (Bev Freed) writes: >13 June 1991 > >ESA Release #18 > >GO-AHEAD FOR GIOTTO EXTENDED MISSION > (MUCH deleted) > >On 2 July 1990, the spacecraft passed at a distance of 23,000 km >from our planet and the first ever Earth gravity assisted mission >sent Giotto speeding towards it new target: Comet Grigg Skejellerup. > >Giotto will set yet another record in Space: it will be the first >probe to have encountered two comets. > > Umm, hate to ruin ESA's day, but Giotto is NOT the first probe to use a Earth gravity assist. I believe that ICE (the US mission to Halley) holds this distinction. > >--- Opus-CBCS 1.20.17 > * Origin: NSS BBS - Ad Astra! (412)366-5208 *HST* (1:129/104.0) >-- >Bev Freed - via FidoNet node 1:129/104 >UUCP: ...!pitt!nss!freed >INTERNET: freed@nss.FIDONET.ORG <-------------------------------------------------------------------------> Carpe Diem Greg_d._Moore@mts.rpi.edu Greg_d._Moore@acm.rpi.edu "All that is gold does not glitter." Strider_of_the_Dunedain@mts.rpi.edu
szabo@sequent.com (06/17/91)
In article <457.285B3398@nss.FIDONET.ORG> freed@nss.FIDONET.ORG (Bev Freed) writes: >GO-AHEAD FOR GIOTTO EXTENDED MISSION >...encounter Comet Grigg Skejellerup on 10 July 1992 around 3 p.m. GMT... >With a few planned maneouvres, Giotto will come to within about >1,000 km of Grigg Skejellerup. Good news! Grigg Skejellerup has a period of 5.2 years, and will be near perihilion in July 1992. It is the parent body of the April Pi-Puppid meteor shower (which should also give a good show in 1992). Does anybody know if there exist plans to observe the meteor shower stream nearby the comet, as well as the comet itself? Keep up the great work across the Atlantic! -- Nick Szabo szabo@sequent.com Embrace Change... Keep the Values... Hold Dear the Laughter... These views are my own, and do not represent any organization.