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The Giotto radio-science experimentThe scientific objectives of the Giotto Radio Science Experiment (GRE) are to determine the columnar electron content of Comet Halley/s ionosphere and the cometary mass fluence from atmospheric drag by using the radio signals from Giotto during the Halley encounter. The radio science data (S and X-band Doppler and range measurements) will be collected at NASA/s deep-space 64 m tracking antenna at Tidbinbilla near Canberra, in Australia. In order to separate the effects of the terrestrial ionosphere and the interplanetary plasma, S-band Doppler measurements will also be taken at Tidbinbilla along the line-of-sight of Japan/s cometary probe Sakigake during the Giotto-Halley Encounter. The measurements of cometary electron content and mass fluence will be inverted to derive the spatial distribution of the electron and mass (dust and gas) density within Halley/s coma. The GRE is the only experiment on Giotto capable of measuring the low-energy (10 eV) electron bulk population of Halley/s ionosphere and the total cometary mass flow impacting upon the spacecraft.
Document ID
19860023012
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Other
Authors
Edenhofer, P.
(Bochum Univ. Germany)
Bird, M. K.
(Bonn Univ. Germany)
Buschert, H.
(Bochum Univ. Germany)
Esposito, P. B.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Porsche, H.
(Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany)
Volland, H.
(Bonn Univ. Germany)
Date Acquired
August 12, 2013
Publication Date
March 1, 1986
Publication Information
Publication: ESA The Giotto Mission: Its Scientific Investigations
Subject Category
Spacecraft Instrumentation
Accession Number
86N32484
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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