Suisei (spacecraft)

Suisei

Spacecraft Suisei
Names	Planet-A (before launch)
Operator	ISAS (now part of Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency)
COSPAR ID	1985-073A
SATCAT no.	15967
Website	Suisei
Mission duration	5 years and 5 months (launch to fuel depletion)
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass	139.5 kg (308 lb)[1]
Start of mission
Launch date	23:33, August 18, 1985 (UTC) (1985-08-18T23:33Z)
Rocket	M-3SII
Launch site	Uchinoura Space Center
End of mission
Disposal	Ran out of fuel by February 22, 1991
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Heliocentric
Sun orbiter
Flyby of Comet Halley
Closest approach	March 8, 1986
Distance	151,000 km (94,000 mi)
Flyby of Earth
Closest approach	August 20, 1992
Distance	~900,000 km (560,000 mi)

Suisei (すいせい, lit. "Comet"), originally known as Planet-A, was an uncrewed space probe developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (now part of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA).

It constituted a part of the Halley Armada together with Sakigake, the Soviet Vega probes, the ESA Giotto and the NASA International Cometary Explorer, to explore Halley's Comet during its 1986 sojourn through the inner Solar System.

Spacecraft

Suisei was identical in construction and shape to Sakigake, but carried a different payload: a CCD UV imaging system and a solar wind instrument.

The main objective of the mission was to take UV images of the hydrogen corona for about 30 days before and after Comet Halley's descending crossing of the ecliptic plane. Solar wind parameters were measured for a much longer time period.

The spacecraft is spin-stabilized at two different rates (5 and 0.2 rpm). Hydrazine thrusters are used for attitude and velocity control; star and Sun sensors are for attitude control; and a mechanically despun off-set parabolic dish is used for long range communication.

Launch

Suisei was launched on August 18, 1985 by M-3SII launch vehicle from Kagoshima Space Center on M-3SII-2 mission. It was sent on an intercept course with Comet Halley, after which it would remain in a heliocentric orbit for later use as long as it was viable.

Halley encounter

Suisei began UV observations in November 1985, generating up to six images/day.

The spacecraft encountered Comet Halley at 151,000 km on sunward side during March 8, 1986, suffering only two dust impacts.

Earth flyby

Fifteen burns of Suisei's 3 N motors during the period of April 5–10, 1987, yielded a 65 m/s velocity increase for a 60,000 km Earth gravity assist swingby on August 20, 1992, although the craft was then lost behind the Sun for the summer.

The hydrazine fuel was depleted on February 22, 1991. Preliminary tracking indicated a 900,000-km flyby had been achieved.

Other planned encounters

ISAS had decided during 1987 to guide Suisei to a November 24, 1998, encounter with 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, but due to depletion of the hydrazine, this, as well as plans to fly within several million kilometers of Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle on February 28, 1998, were cancelled.

References

External links

• Suisei
• Suisei Mission Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
• Halley's Comet Flyby^{[permanent dead link]}
• Suisei Mission Comet Halley Data Archive at the NASA Planetary Data System, Small Bodies Node

• v
• t
• e

Spacecraft missions to minor planets and comets

• List of minor planets and comets visited by spacecraft
• List of artificial objects on extraterrestrial surfaces

Active

• New Horizons (multiple flybys)
• OSIRIS-APEX (orbiter)
• Hayabusa2♯ (lander)
• Lucy (multiple flybys)
• LICIACube (flyby)
• Psyche (orbiter)

Past

Flybys	Cassini–Huygens Chang'e 2 Clementine† CONTOUR† Deep Impact EPOXI Deep Space 1 Galileo Halley Armada Giotto Sakigake Suisei Vega 1 Vega 2 International Cometary Explorer NEA Scout† NEAR Shoemaker Pioneer 7 PROCYON† Rosetta Stardust Ulysses
Orbiters	Dawn NEAR Shoemaker Rosetta Timeline
Landers	Hayabusa MINERVA† Hayabusa2 MASCOT Rover-1A / HIBOU Rover-1B / OWL Rover-2† NEAR Shoemaker Philae
Impactors	Deep Impact DART
Sample return	Hayabusa Hayabusa2 Stardust OSIRIS-REx

Planned

• Hera (orbiter, 2024)
  • AIDA
• DESTINY+ (multiple flybys, 2025)
• Tianwen-2 (multiple flybys and sample return, 2025)
• MBR Explorer (multiple flybys and orbiter, 2028)
• Comet Interceptor (flyby, 2029)

Proposed

• ASTER (orbiter, 2021)
• Athena (flyby of Pallas, 2022)
• Shensuo (flybys, 2024)
• Centaurus (multiple flybys, 2026–2029)
• Chimera (orbiter, 2025)
• CORSAIR (sample return)
• HAMMER (nuclear impactor concept)
• MANTIS (multiple flybys)
• OKEANOS (multiple flybys and sample return, 2026)
• World Is Not Enough (spacecraft refueling concept)
• Interstellar Probe (flyby, 2030–2042)

Cancelled or
not developed

• AGORA
• AIM
• Asteroid Redirect Mission
• CAESAR
• Castalia
• Clementine 2
• Comet Hopper
• CONDOR
• CRAF
• Don Quijote
• Hayabusa Mk2
• Janus
• MAOSEP
• Marco Polo
• New Horizons 2
• Vesta

Related

• Asteroid belt
• Asteroid capture
• Asteroid mining
• Colonization of asteroids
• Ceres
• Pluto
  • Exploration
• Small Solar System bodies
  • Near-Earth object
  • Trans-Neptunian object
    • Colonization
  • Trojan
• Vesta

• Probes are listed in chronological order of launch. ^† indicates mission failures.