Word: vegas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...This is the first time we've gone to the comet," said Carl Sagan. The Cornell University astronomer was one of about 100 foreign scientists who gathered at Moscow's Institute of Space Research to observe the eagerly awaited rendezvous of the Soviet spacecraft Vega 1 with Halley's comet. At 2:30 a.m. (EST) on March 6, as Vega passed within 5,300 miles of Halley's nucleus and as images of the legendary comet flashed on television screens at the institute, Sagan joined the other foreign scientists in applause, while Soviet scientists and technicians hugged and kissed...
...their supervision by scientists from ten nations -- had become the first man-made object to record close-up views of a comet's coma and nucleus, and send the images and other data back to earth.* It also served as the advance guard for four other craft -- the Soviet Vega 2, the Japanese Suisei and Sakigake, and the European Space Agency's Giotto -- that were to sweep by Halley's in the following week...
...looking for oxygen, carbon, sulfur and other elements in the coma's gases, until March 6, when the sun will begin blocking the Venusian view of the comet. On that day, however, the first of an international flotilla of spacecraft will take over Halley's vigil. The Soviet probe Vega 1 will fly through the coma, passing within 6,000 miles of the nucleus. It will be followed by another Soviet craft, two Japanese probes, and the European Space Agency's Giotto, which will make the most daring pass of all. On March 13, Giotto will swoop within about...
...intricately choreographed ballet, each craft will perform a variety of tasks, complementing and aiding one another every thrust of the way. Japan's two probes, Sakigake (Pioneer) and Suisei (Comet), between them will study the solar wind and examine the hydrogen cloud surrounding the comet. The Soviet Union's Vega 1 and Vega 2 will analyze the abundant dust motes and charged gases that envelop the comet's nucleus. Most remarkable of all, data and pictures from the Vega twins will enable European scientists to chart Halley's course precisely enough to allow their probe, Giotto, to come within about...
...most important contributions from the Vega program will be what is called the Pathfinder concept. Together the probes will attempt to reckon the position and orbit of Halley's nucleus with a precision impossible from ground-based observations and then beam the data back to the Soviet Union, which will in turn relay the information to European mission control in Darmstadt, West Germany, in time for Giotto's rendezvous on March 13. Precision is of the essence: zeroing in on a nucleus that scientists estimate measures only two to six miles in diameter and is traveling some 154,000 m.p.h...