Sakigake
Sign in to save, known before launch as MS-T5, was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the US or the Soviet Union. It aimed to demonstrate the performance of the new launch vehicle, test its ability to escape from Earth gravity, and observe the interplanetary medium and magnetic field. Sakigake also served as a reference probe for Halley's Comet. Early measurements would be used to improve the mission of the Suisei probe launched several months later.
Key facts
- Spaceflight.name
- Sakigake
- Spaceflight.image
- Sakigake.gif
- Spaceflight.image_caption
- Artist's rendering of the Sakigake spacecraft
- Spaceflight.image_size
- 300px
- Spaceflight.mission_type
- Halley flyby
- Spaceflight.operator
- ISAS
- Spaceflight.COSPAR_ID
- 1985-001A
- Spaceflight.SATCAT
- 15464
- Spaceflight.launch_date
- UTC
- Spaceflight.launch_rocket
- Mu-3SII
- Spaceflight.launch_site
- Kagoshima
- Spaceflight.last_contact
- Data: Beacon: January 8, 1999
- Spaceflight.orbit_reference
- Heliocentric
- Spaceflight.orbit_periapsis
- 0.92 AU
- Spaceflight.orbit_apoapsis
- 1.15 AU
- Spaceflight.orbit_inclination
- 0.07 degrees
- Spaceflight.orbit_period
- 382.8 days
- Spaceflight.apsis
- helion
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Sakigake.gif
Show 1 more fact
- UTC date of spacecraft launch
- 1985-01-07
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Design
- Launch
- Halley encounter
- Giacobini-Zinner encounter
- End of mission
- References
- External links
, known before launch as MS-T5, was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the US or the Soviet Union. It aimed to demonstrate the performance of the new launch vehicle, test its ability to escape from Earth gravity, and observe the interplanetary medium and magnetic field. Sakigake also served as a reference probe for Halley's Comet. Early measurements would be used to improve the mission of the Suisei probe launched several months later.
Sakigake was developed by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science for the National Space Development Agency (both of which are now part of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA). It became a part of the Halley Armada together with Suisei, 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.