[X] My Assistant

[Rakhir]

Giotto’s brief encounter
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSZ0NVGJE_index_0.html

Twenty years ago, in the night between 13 and 14 March 1986, ESA’s Giotto spacecraft encountered Comet Halley.

[djellison]

You mentioned the same idea with another spacecraft at some point - but it would be much MUCH easier just to mount a mission to go and collect samples from a comet (i.e. Stardust) than attempt to rendezvous with, encapsulate, and bring home an entire spacecraft. that was never designed to collect samples and is likely to show damage, but certainly not an aerogel like capture of samples.

For all we know, leaking hydrazine might have put Giotto into a massive spin. It might have broken apart, or it might be in a steady state of spin still.

It's a cute idea - bringing these things home - but ultimately pointless and certainly an enormous waste of a very limited budget.

Doug

[spdf]

You mentioned the same idea with another spacecraft at some point - but it would be much MUCH easier just to mount a mission to go and collect samples from a comet (i.e. Stardust) than attempt to rendezvous with, encapsulate, and bring home an entire spacecraft. that was never designed to collect samples and is likely to show damage, but certainly not an aerogel like capture of samples.For all we know, leaking hydrazine might have put Giotto into a massive spin. It might have broken apart, or it might be in a steady state of spin still. It's a cute idea - bringing these things home - but ultimately pointless and certainly an enormous waste of a very limited budget.Doug

Are you sure? The only damaged parts were the camera I thought. And Giotto had another encounter with a comet in 1992 (with Grigg-Skjellerup). In 1999 it had its second Earth fly by. So the damage to the spacecraft might be rather limited? So definite not broken apart.

[djellison]

In 1999 it had its second Earth fly by. So the damage to the spacecraft might be rather limited? So definite not broken apart.

It was on a trajectory for that Earth flyby - but the spacecraft was turned off in July 1992. It has not been tracked for more than 15 years. There's no 'definite' about the status of Giotto. We have no idea what sort of state it's in.

Doug