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GIOTTO — In-Flight Thermal Performance
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English
Abstract
On July 2nd, 1985 the Giotto spacecraft was launched from Kourou (French Guyana) towards its encounter with Halley’s comet on 13-14 March 1986.
This first European Space Agency interplanetary spacecraft was spin stabilized and weighed 960 kg at launch. Giotto was injected into a heliocentric orbit involving variations of the solar intensity by a factor of two. This fact together with the communications requirements and comet encounter geometry restricted the spacecraft attitude such that during the 9 month mission all external surfaces were illuminated by the sun, imposing severe limitations on the use of any surface for efficient heat rejection.
The spacecraft thermal control subsystem included several heater circuits and three “thermal shutters” operated by ground command. The daily configuration of these items was balanced between thermal and power requirements.
This paper presents an outline of the design characteristics of the spacecraft, its thermal control capabilities and a detailed summary of the flight performance.
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Citation
Hartoog, A., Boelee, A., Felici, F., and Wilson, R., "GIOTTO — In-Flight Thermal Performance," SAE Technical Paper 860937, 1986, https://doi.org/10.4271/860937.Also In
References
- The Giotto Spacecraft System And Subsystem Design Galbo P. Lo ESA Journal 1984 8
- Thermal Design of the Giotto Spacecraft Felici, F. Lindhout, P. Proceedings of the International Symposium on “Environmental and Thermal Systems for Space Vehicles” Toulouse France 1983
- The Giotto Spacecraft’s performance during Geostationary transfer Orbit and Near Earth Phase Mission Phases Tracy J.L. Felici F. Levins D. Vandenbussche, F.C. Esa Journal 1985 9
- The Giotto Thermal Control Shutter Felici, F. Brouwer, G. Proceedings of the International Symposium on “Environmental and Thermal Systems for Space Vehicles” Toulouse France 1983
- Thermal Aspects of the Giotto Dust Protection System Hartoog, A. Lindhout, P. Workshop “The Giotto Dust Protection System”, ESTEC 1981