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Example research essay topic: Back To Earth Solar Wind - 1,313 words

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n this ERA of tight space budgets and infrequent deep-space missions, solar system researchers have pushed to squeeze more science from existing interplanetary spacecraft. By drastically altering their orbital paths using gravity-assisted maneuvers combined with relatively brief rocket firings, veteran probes can be sent on productive extended missions. This technique was successfully employed by the International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISSE 3) spacecraft to accomplish two important space firsts: the exploration of the geomagnetic tail from to 1 million kilometers behind the Earth and an encounter with a comet. The ISEE 3 program consisted of 3 satellites ISEE 1 and ISEE 3 were the principal US contribution to the International Magnetospheric Study, and ISEE 2 which was built and managed by ESA. ISEE 1 and ISEE 2 were launched on October 22, 1977 into almost coincident orbits. The ISEE 3 was launched in August 1978; no thought was given to redirecting it to a comet at some future date.

The spacecrafts primary mission, monitoring the solar wind upstream from the Earth, was challenging enough. To do this on a continuous basis, ISEE 3 had to be placed in orbit around the Sun-Earth L 1 liberation point, located about 1 million km sunward from the Earth. Such an orbit is unstable, but with gentle rocket firings the spacecraft was kept from wandering too far away. ISEE 3 remained in its planned orbit for about four years, gathering data on solar-wind plasma, magnetic and electric fields, charged particles, and cosmic rays. However, in 1982 an irresistible proposal for a radically different mission objective was put forward: by executing an intricate series of propulsive and lunar gravity assist maneuvers, ISEE 3 could be targeted for an encounter with Comet Giacobini-Zinner.

ISEE 3 began its complex lunar swingby's in March 1983. After four gravity assists, a fifth one on December 22, 1983, skirted ISEE 3 within 120 km of the lunar surface. The last close passage with the Moon catapulted the probe out of the earth-Moon system into a heliocentric trajectory that would eventually intercept Giacobini-Zinner. Once on its way. NASA announced a new name for the spacecraft International Cometary Explorer (ICE).

The spacecraft Giotto was named after artist Giotto di Bondage, who had used the appearance of Comet Halley in 1301 as the model for the Star of Bethlehem in his 1304 painting titled "Adoration of the Magi." The purpose of the Giotto mission was to study Comet Halley during the comet's perihelion passage in 1986. Giotto also encountered Comet Grigg-Skjellerup during an extended mission in 1992. The major objectives of the mission were: Obtain the first close-up images of a nucleus of a comet Determine the elemental and isotopic composition of volatile components in the cometary coma, particularly parent molecules Characterize the physical and chemical processes that occur in the cometary atmosphere and ionosphere Determine the elemental and isotopic composition of dust particles Measure the total gas-production rate and dust flux and size / mass distribution and derive the dust-to-gas ratio Investigate the macroscopic systems of plasma flows resulting from the cometary-solar wind interaction The European Space Agency (ESA) launched Giotto on an Ariane- 1 rocket on July 2 1985. The spacecraft design was based on the GEOS research satellites, and a 600 kg shield had to be added to ensure it would survive a close comet encounter. Giotto carried 10 instruments, which included a multicolor camera, mass spectrometers, dust impact detector, plasma instruments, energetic particle analyzer, and a magnetometer. The power source was a 5, 032 cell solar array that provided 190 watts of power during the first comet encounter, and four silver-cadmium batteries was carried along as well.

On March 13, 1986, Giotto approached Comet Halley for a targeted 500 km flyby. The spacecraft crossed the bow shock of the solar wind, and into the comet's coma. At this point the camera was switched to tracking mode to follow the brightest object (the comet nucleus) in its field of view and was returning images back to Earth. The images revealed the comet nucleus to be a dark peanut-shaped body with two bright jets spewing material out. The dust impacts were lower than expected until a few minutes prior to closest approach when the impact rate rose sharply, as the spacecraft apparently crossed into the path of one of the jets.

Just 14 seconds prior to closest approach, the spacecraft was struck by a large dust particle which knocked the spacecraft off Earth point, and it took approximately 30 minutes for the spacecraft to recover and point its antenna back to Earth and reestablish communications. Passing by the comet at a velocity of 68 km / second , the spacecraft had suffered some damage. Some of the instruments no longer worked or were partially functional. The star mapper's baffle was peppered with holes.

Subsequent analysis of Giotto's data showed a new wealth of data collected. Water accounted for about 80 % by volume of all of the material being thrown out by the comet. Seven jets were identified which threw out 3 tons / sec of material. The largest grain detected was 40 mg, though the large particle that hit the spacecraft was estimated to be from 0. 1 to 1 gram. The data from the plasma and ion mass spectrometer instruments indicated that the surface of Comet Halley is covered in a layer of organic material.

The actual closest approach was measured at 596 km. On April 2, 1986, Giotto was placed into hibernation. In April 1990, Giotto was reactivated. Three of the instruments proved fully operational, four partially damaged but usable, and the remainders, including the camera, were unusable.

In 1985, Giotto scientists asked the ICE Flight Dynamics Team to help identify any extended-mission potions for the spacecraft. The group proposed using an Earth swing on July 1, 1990. On July 2, 1990, Giotto made a close encounter with Earth and was re targeted to a flyby of Comet Grigg-Skjellerup on July 10, 1992. Aimed directly at the comet, Giotto missed the comet by 200 km in the closest ever flyby of a comet. Flying by at 14 km / second and with a dust production rate about 1 / 200 of Halley's, the Comet Grigg-Skjellerup encounter was expected to have very little dust damage to the spacecraft. Another encounter was with the Hartley 2.

However, Hartley 2 has only been observed during a single apparition, in 1991. After the 1992 comet encounter, Giotto was placed into an Earth-return orbit using almost all-remaining fuel. The satellite was put back into hibernation on July 23, 1992 and the Giotto mission officially terminated. In its present orbit, Giotto will pass silently within 300, 000 km of the Earth on July 1, 1999. Sakigake ('Pioneer') is a test spacecraft similar to Suite (Planet-A). It flew by Comet P/Halley on its sunward side at a distance of about 7 million kilometers on March 11, 1986.

It carried three instruments to measure plasma wave spectra, solar wind ions, and interplanetary magnetic fields, all of which worked normally. The spacecraft was spin-stabilized at two different rates (5 and 0. 2 rpm). It was equipped with hydrazine thrusters for attitude and velocity control, star and sun sensors for attitude determination, and a mechanically design offset parabolic dish for long-range communication. Sakigake made an Earth swing on January 8, 1992. The closest approach was at 23 h 08 m 47 s (JST, = UTC+ 9 h) with a geocentric distance of 88, 997 km. This was the first planet-swing for a Japanese spacecraft.

During the approach, Sakigake observed the geo tail. A geo tail passage occurred at 290 Re on June 14, 1993, before ISTP's multi-spacecraft investigation of that region. The second Earth swing was on June 14, 1993 at 40 Re, and the third on October 28, 1994 at 86 Re. Almost no hydrazine remains so no further maneuvers wer...


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