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| Small Bodies Mission Support |
The Giotto spacecraft was launched on 2 July 1985 to study comet 1P/Halley. The spacecraft carried instruments to image the nucleus, analyze components of the cometary coma, the cometary atmosphere and ionosphere, cometary dust particles, and plasma flows resulting from the interaction of cometary and solar wind. Giotto encountered comet 1P/Halley on 13 March 1986 and came within 596 km of the nucleus. Following the encounter Giotto was placed into a hibernation mode. The spacecraft was reactivated for an extended mission in 1992. Giotto encountered comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup on 10 July 1992 and came within a distance of approximately 200 km of the nucleus.
Spacecraft operations were terminated on 23 July 1992.
The Giotto Mission Description is available from the European Space Administration.
The SBN is the PDS node leading the efforts to restore and archive the data from the small body missions such as the Giotto mission.
| Instrument/Investigation | Measuring | Small Bodies Data available below |
|---|---|---|
| Dust Impact Detector System (DID) | Impact of cometary dust particles on Giotto's front dust shield | 1P/Halley, 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup |
| Energetic Particle Analyzer (EPA) | High energy ions | 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup |
| Radio Science Experiment (GRE) | Cometary electron content and mass fluence | 1P/Halley, 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup |
| Halley Multimeter Camera (HMC) | Multi-color imaging of the cometary nucleus | 1P/Halley |
| Ion Mass Spectrometer (IMS) | Ion composition and ion velocity distrubutions in the cometary coma | 1P/Halley IMS_HERS,
1P/Halley IMS_HIS, 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup |
| Johnstone Plasma Analyzer (JPA) | Flux and velocity distribution of positive ions in the energy range from 10 eV to 90 keV | 1P/Halley, 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup JPA, 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup JPA_MAG merged |
| Magnetometer (MAG) | Interplanetary and cometary magnetic fields | 1P/Halley, 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup |
| Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS) | Composition and energy of neutral gas in the cometary coma | none |
| Optical Probe Experiment (OPE) | Brightness of the dust and gas in the coma | 1P/Halley, 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup |
| Particle Impact Analyzer (PIA) | Chemical composition and mass of cometary dust particles | 1P/Halley |
| RPA-(Réme) Copernic Plasma Experiment (RPA) | Velocity distributions of electrons; composition and distribution of thermal positive ions close to the cometary object | none |
| Instrument/ Investigation Description | Target | Description of Available Data | Data Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| DID | 1P/Halley | International Halley Watch | CDROM |
| 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | Giotto Extended Mission | CDROM | |
| EPA | 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | Giotto Extended Mission | CDROM |
| GRE | 1P/Halley | International Halley Watch | CDROM |
| International Halley Watch | CDROM | ||
| CDROM | |||
| 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | Giotto Extended Mission | CDROM | |
| HMC | 1P/Halley | International Halley Watch | CDROM |
| IMS | 1P/Halley | ||
| International Halley Watch IMS_HERS | CDROM | ||
| International Halley Watch data IMS_HIS | CDROM | ||
| 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | Giotto Extened Mission | CDROM | |
| JPA | 1P/Halley | International Halley Watch | CDROM |
| 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | Giotto Extended Mission JPA | CDROM | |
| CDROM | |||
| CDROM | |||
| Giotto Extended Mission JPA_MAG (merged data) | CDROM | ||
| MAG | 1P/Halley | International Halley Watch | CDROM |
| 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | Giotto Extended Mission | CDROM | |
| OPE | 1P/Halley | International Halley Watch | CDROM |
| 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | Giotto Extended Mission | CDROM | |
| PIA | 1P/Halley | International Halley Watch | CDROM |
| Target | Target Type | Other Data Sets Targeting this Object |
|---|---|---|
| 1P/Halley | Comet | International Halley Watch CDROM archive |
| 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | Comet |