Vega 2, Venus and Halley's Comet spacecraft, launched 1984

 

Vega 2, launched December 21, 1984 by the Soviet Union, visited Venus and Halley's Comet.  The descent module was released from the flyby probe on June 13, 1985 and reached Venus two days later.  It consisted of a surface lander and a balloon explorer.

The lander touched down in the northern region of Aphrodite Terra.  Pressure was 91 atm and the temperature was 865° F or 463° C. The lander transmitted data for 56 minutes. The balloon explorer floated at a stable altitude of 53-54 km where the pressure was about 0.5 atm and the temperature of 95° - 109° F or 35° - 43° C. It transmitted for almost two days, during which it travelled 11,100 km or 6900 mi.   until the final transmission.

The Vegas' motherships were redirected to intercept Halley's Comet and reached its destination on March 9, 1986. The encounter lasted about 3 hours at its closest approach at 8030 km or 4990 mi.   Contact with Vega 2 was lost on March 24, 1987 after it measured dust as it passed through orbits of Comet 72P/Denning-Fujikawa, Biela's Comet and Comet 289/Blanpain.

https://youtube.com/shorts/mRZbpLc1NT0?si=HxvXIaM11n7in_s-

Vega 1 to Venus and Halley's Comet launched 1984

Vega 1, Soviet spacecraft to Venus and Halley's Comet, was launched December 15, 1984.  Its twin Vega 2 was launched six days later.  It reached Venus June 11, 1985, releasing its descent module two days prior.  The landing module contained a surface lander and a balloon explorer.

Vega 1 made a gravitational assist using Venus's gravity to continue its mission to Halley's Comet.  The first images of the comet were received March 4, 1986 and made its closest approach on March 6. Vega 1 sent images for the next two days.  The last contact made with the spacecraft as it headed into deep space was January 1987. 

International Cometary Explorer launched 1978

The International Cometary Explorer (ICE), also known as the International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3), was launched August 12, 1978.  It became the first spacecraft to visit a comet, when it encountered Comet Giacobini-Zinner in September 1985.

It made a flyby of Halley's Comet in March 1986, but the closest it got to the comet's nucleus was 28M kilometers.  By comparison, Earth's minimum distance was 20.8M kilometers.

Contact with the probe was lost September 16, 2014.

Vega 2 encounters Halley's Comet 1986

Vega 2, launched in December 1984, made its closest approach to Halley's Comet March 9, 1986.  It first released a descent module onto the surface of Venus in June 1985.  After the Venus encounter, the Soviet spacecraft used the planet's gravity to intercept the comet.  It began its enounter on March 7, 1986 and made its closest approach March 9.  It took 700 images of Halley's Comet.

Contact with Vega 2 was lost March 24, 1987.

Giotto, spacecraft to Halley's Comet, launched 1985

European Space Agency's Giotto spacecraft, launched July 2, 1985, visited Halley's Comet in March 1986. It followed the Soviet Union's Vega 1 and Vega 2.  Giotto passed the comet successfully despite being hit by small particles.  One collision sent the spacecraft spinning off its stabilized axis.  The antenna was not pointed toward earth and the dust shield was not in a position to protect its instruments.  After 32 minutes, Giotto stabilized itself and continued gathering data.

Another collision destroyed the multi-color camera, but after it took close-up pictures of the nucleus.  It was turned off March 15, 1986.

ESA woke up Giotto July 2, 1990 for a flyby of Comet Grigg-Skjellerup on July 10.  Giotto was again switched off.

The spacecraft is named after Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone, who witnessed Halley's Comet in 1301 and depicted it as the star of Bethlehem in his painting Adoration of the Magi.

Sakigake, Japanese space probe to Halley's Comet, launched 1985

Japan launched its first interplanetary spacecraft Sakigake on January 7, 1985 to explore Halley's Comet during its 1986 visit to Earth.   It was the first deep space probe to be launched by a country other than USA or the Soviet Union.

Sakigake was developed by two entities who became part of the Japanese Exploration Agency (JAXA).  It made a flyby of the comet in March 1986 at just under 7 million kilometers.  It did not carry any imaging instruments. 

Japan planned for it to do a flyby of comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner but the idea was abandoned due to lack of propellant.

Telemetry was lost in November 1995 but its beacon signal was received until January 7, 1999.

Giotto probe visits Comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup 1992

The European Space Agency launched the Giotto probe in July 1985, and on July 10, 1992, it made its closest approach to Comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup. 

The probe first made contact with Halley's Comet in March 1986, but during the flyby, the probe's camera was destroyed.  When Giotto passed by Comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup, it could not take any images. 

Vega 1 probe lands on Venus 1985

Vega 1 Lander/Balloon capsule entered the Venusian atmosphere June 11, 1985.  It had been launched December 15, 1984 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.  The Vega 1 space probe continued on to rendezvous with Halley's Comet, while the lander/balloon capsule was to study the planet.

The balloon probe and the lander separated in the upper atmosphere.   The lander touched down successfully on the Mermaid Plain inside the Aphrodite Terra.  Unfortunately, the lander experienced severe turbulence on its descent, which caused some of the surface experiments to activate early.  As a result, only the mass spectrometer was able to transmit data.

The balloon traveled about 30% around the planet, continuing to transmit data during the day.  It stopped sending signals on June 13, so it is not known how far the balloon traveled after that point.

Giotto spacecraft flies by Halley's Comet 1986

Launched July 2, 1985 by the European Space Agency, the spacecraft Giotto made its closest approach to Halley's Comet, March 14, 1986.  Giotto passed less than 600 km from the comet's nucleus and sent back stunning pictures.  It survived several impacts from small objects and one even knocked it off its axis so its antenna did not point toward Earth and its on-board instruments were not protected by its dust shield.

Thirty-two minutes later it re-oriented itself and continued sending back data.  The Halley Multicolor Camera was destroyed by an impact but not before Giotto made its closest approach.

The following day, ESA turned off its instruments until July 2, 1990 when Giotto was reactivated so it could make a flyby of Comet Grigg-Skjellerup in July 1992, making it the first probe to visit two comets.

Giotto was part of a "Halley Armada" which was composed of several probes from different space agencies.  The Soviets sent Vega 1 and Vega 2.  Vega 1 made its closes approach, just under 9000 km, on March 6 and Vega 2 followed on March 9. 

The Japanese also sent two, Sagigake (March 11) and Suisei (March 8), but their closest approaches were about 1M km.

Vega 2, Soviet probe to Venus and Halley's Comet, launched 1984

In a rather ambitious program, the Soviets launched Vega 2, December 21, 1984 to visit both Venus and Halley's Comet.  The descent module separated from the flyby module June 13, 1985 and arrived at Venus two days later.  The flyby probe continued on to rendezvous with Halley's Comet.

The descent module consisted of a lander and a balloon probe.  The lander touched down in the Aphrodite Terra region and transmitted data for about 56 minutes before falling silent.

The balloon probe used a series of parachutes to reach an altitude of 53-54 kim in the middle layer of Venus' three-tiered atmosphere.  It transmitted data for almost 2 days and drifted about 11,000 km before sending its last transmission.  Who knows how far it kept drifting?

The flyby probe first encountered Halley's Comet March 7, 1986 and made its closest approach March 9.  It took pictures during a three-hour window during the closest enounter and continued to take pictures March 10 and 11.  Contact with Vega 2 last until March 24.

Japan launches Suisei spacecraft for Halley's Comet flyby 1985

Japan launched its second deep space probe, Suisei (formerly know as Planet-A) August 18, 1985 to study Halley's Comet on March 8, 1986.  It was part of the "Halley Armada" with Soviet and French probes, the European Space Agency and NASA.  The first probe, Sakigake, was launched in January of 1985.  Suisei carried an ultra-violet based imaging system to study the hydrogen corona around Halley's Comet and instruments to measure solar wind.

Japanese scientists planned to send Suisei to encounter Giacobini-Zinner in November 1998, but its hydrazine fuel was depleted February 22, 1991.

Suisei (Japanese for Comet) was developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, which is now part of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.

http://history.nasa.gov/monograph24/1985.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suisei_(spacecraft)

Apocalypse (Not) Now - Earth passes through Halley's Comet tail 1910

Doomsdays come and doomsdays go.  On May 19, 1910, Earth passed through the tail of Halley's Comet and was expected to extinguish all life.  Weeks before astronomers had discovered cyanogen, a deadly poison in the comet's tail.  Prognosticators warned people that cyanogen would permeate the atmosphere and kill every living thing.  The good news was you could take a pill, which would protect you against the effects of the poison.  They didn't explain how you would protect yourself when the Pacific Ocean emptied into the Atlantic.

Oh, but the best way to escape the apocalypse was in a submarine!

















People awoke on May 20 and nothing had happened. Oh, well.  The world is scheduled to end December  21, 2012.  Oh, right.