Giotto

ESA

Named after Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone, the Giotto spacecraft was designed to study Halley's Comet during its 1986 visit to the inner Solar System.

Construction

1.85 m in diameter, the bus was derived from the British Aerospace (BAe) built GEOS satellites, with added Whipple dust shield, 1,51 m antenna and 10 science instruments. It was powered by a SEP MAGE-1S solid rocket motor for its heliocentric orbit insertion.

Mission

Launched on July 2, 1985 on an Ariane 1 rocket, it flew by Halley's Comet at a distance of 596 km in March of 1986. It was part of the Halley Armada joining 5 other international probes, making use of the unique opportunity to study a comet from close by.

Post Halley

After its Halley encounter Giotto slung past Earth for a gravity assist to fly by the 26P / Grigg-Skjellerup Comet in July of 1992, at a distance of 200 km. It flew by Earth a last time in 1999.

  • 2 July 1985: Launch from the Guiana Space Center, Kourou, on an Ariane 1
  • 14 March 1986: Comet Halley flyby, at 596 km distance
  • 2 July 1990: Earth flyby
  • 10 July 1992: Comet Grigg-Skjellerup flyby, at 200 km distance
  • 23 July 1992: Deactivated
  • 1 July 1999: Decativated Earth flyby
  • MA: Magnetometer
  • HMC: Halley Multicolour Camera, 16cm telescope and camera
  • DID: Dust Impact Detection System, dust particle mass
  • RPA: Rème Plasma Analyser, solar wind and charged particles
  • JPA: Johnstone Plasma Analyser, solar wind and charged particles
  • PIA: Particulate Impact Analyser, particle size and chemistry
  • OPE: Optical Probe Experiment, gas and dust emissivity
  • EPA: Energetic Particles, alpha-particle, electron, and neutron analysis
  • NMS: Neutral Mass Spectrometer, cometary particle composition
  • IMS: Ion Mass Spectrometer, sun and comet ion amounts
  • GRE: Giotto Radio Experiment, comet radio signals
Andrew LePage, Drew Ex Machina (en)
Wikipedia (en)
Gunter D. Krebs, Gunther's Space Page (en)
ESA (en)
ESA Science & Technology (en)
Probes
Europe
United Kingdom
France
ESA
BAe
Safran
MAGE
1985