Sakigake

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Sakigake may also refer to Sakigake!! Kuromati Koko, an anime.

Spacecraft Sakigake

Sakigake (MS-T5), was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft. It aimed to demonstrate the performance of the new launch vehicle, test the schemes of the first escape from the Earth gravitation for Japan on engineering basis, observing space plasma and magnetic field in interplanetary space. Sakigake was also supposed to get references for scientists.

1 Design
2 Launch
3 Halley encounter
4 Giacobini-Zinner encounter
5 End of mission
6 External links

[edit] Design

Unlike its twin Suisei it carried no imaging instruments in its instrument payload.

Data: Weight: 138 kg Orbit : Heliocentric International Index: 1985-001A

[edit] Launch

Sakigake was lauched January 7, 1985 from Kagoshima Space Center by M-3SII-1 launch vehicle.

[edit] Halley encounter

It carried out a flyby of Comet Halley on March 11, 1986 at a distance of 6.99 million km.

[edit] Giacobini-Zinner encounter

There were plans for the spacecraft to go on to an encounter with 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in 1998 but they had to be abandoned due to lack of propellant.