Sakigake
Sakigake was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and a technology pathfinder for the Halley campaign. It validated heliocentric navigation, distant communications, attitude control, and plasma and magnetic-field observations.
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Identity
- Aliases
- MS-T51985-001A
- Name
- Sakigake
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- Sakigake was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and a technology pathfinder for the Halley campaign. It validated heliocentric navigation, distant communications, attitude control, and plasma and magnetic-field observations.
- Destination
- Heliocentric orbit on a Comet Halley flyby trajectory (approximately 319-day period)
- End Date
- 1999-01-07
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- The mission successfully entered heliocentric orbit, sampled the solar wind and magnetic environment near Comet Halley, and continued interplanetary plasma observations for fourteen years until operations ended on January 7, 1999.
- Programs
- -
- Start Date
- 1985-01-07
- Vehicle Families
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 18, 2026 at 13:00:45 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 21, 2026 at 01:54:28 UTC
- Image
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Other
- Affiliations
- Search Name
- Sakigake MS-T5 1985-001A
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles