Sakigake


Sakigake

(sah-kee-gah -kay) A Japanese spacecraft that was launched in Jan. 1985 and passed on the sunward side of Halley's comet on Mar. 11 1986 at a miss distance of 7 million km. The main aim was to investigate the plasma and magnetic field associated with the comet. A second Japanese spacecraft, Suisei, was launched in Aug. 1985 and passed Halley on the sunward side on Mar. 8 1986 at a miss distance of 151 000 km. This craft carried an ultraviolet imager and an instrument that measured the energy of the cometary plasma ions.