Sakigake
From Free net encyclopedia
Sakigake (MS-T5), was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and was lauched January 7, 1985 from Kagoshima Space Center by M-3SII-1 launch vehicle. It aimed to demonstrate the performance of the new launch vehicle, test the schemes of the first escape from the Earth gravitation for Japan on engineering basis, observing space plasma and magnetic field in interplanetary space. It carried out a flyby of Comet Halley on March 11, 1986 at a distance of 6.99 million km. There were plans for the spacecraft to go on to an encounter with 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in 1998 but they had to be abandoned due to lack of propellant. Contact was lost in January 7, 1999.
Unlike its twin Suisei it carried no imaging instruments in its instrument payload, but did return lots of useful data back to earth.
Weight: 138 kg Orbit : Heliocentric International Index: 1985-001A
External links
Template:Halley Armadade:Sakigake hu:Sakigake it:Sakigake ja:さきがけ (探査機) pt:Sonda Sakigake sv:Sakigake