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SuiseiBy Marty McDowell/NASA
On Aug 18, 1985, the Japan launched Suisei (which means
"comet" in Japanese). This was Japan's second deep space
mission. As with the first (Sakigake), its
mission was to study the Comet Halley.
For a time, Suisei returned as many as six UV pictures a day of the
comet. Then the cameras were turned off and experiments on the solar wind
were conducted. During its mission, Suisei was hit by two particles of
dust from Halley that altered the rotation of the craft.
A further mission for Suisei was planned as a rendezvous with comet
Giacobini-Zinner in November 1998 but the mission ended when Suisei ran
out of fuel on February 22, 1991. The spacecraft automatically shut itself
off and hasn't been heard from since.
Source: NASA.
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Share Your Memories!What do you remember about Suisei? Have you any compelling stories to share? Share your stories with the world! (We print the best stories right here!) |
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Space References (Books):
Dickinson, Terence. Nightwatch:
A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe. Firefly Books, 1998.
Greene, Brian. Elegant
Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate
Theory. Vintage, 2000.
Hawking, Stephen. Illustrated
Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Edition. Bantam, 1996.
Hawking, Stephen. Theory
of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe. New Millenium,
2002.
Hawking, Stephen. The
Universe in a Nutshell. Bantam, 2001.
Kaku, Michio. Hyperspace:
A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps and the Tenth
Dimension.
Kranz, Gene. Failure
Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond.
Berkley Pub Group, 2001.
Sagan, Carl; Druyan, Ann. Comet,
Revised Edition. Ballantine, 1997
Sagan, Carl. Cosmos,
Reissue Edition. Ballantine, 1993
Sagan, Carl. Pale
Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. Ballantine, 1997
Space References (Videos):
Cosmos.
PBS, 2000.
Stephen
Hawking's Universe. PBS, 1997.
Hyperspace.
BBC, 2002.
Life
Beyond Earth PBS, 1999.
The Planets. BBC, 1999.
Understanding
The Universe. A&E, 1996.
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SPACE SPECS |
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| | Suisei spacecraft | | | | Courtesy of NASA | |
|  | Launched: August 18, 1985
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| | Destination: Halley's Comet
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| | Arrival: March 8, 1986
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| | Return: N/A
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| | Nation: Japan
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| | Mission: Flyby of comet
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