Comet Space Missions

Historic Comet Space Missions

International Comet Explorer (ICE) (Nasa), formerly ISEE-3: passed comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in 1985 (first comet flyby), distant observations of 1P/Halley 1986. ISEE-3/ICE information from NSSDC (did you know this was once designated Explorer 59 ?); ICE page (JPL Stardust server)
The following probes passed Comet 1P/Halley in 1986:
- Suisei (Planet-A, Japan). Later scheduled for flyby of comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner on November 24, 1998, and with 55P/Tempel-Tuttle on February 28, 1998, but hydracine fuel depletion on February 22, 1991 ended the mission. Suisei info from NSSDC
- Sakigake (MS-T5, Japan). Later used for Geotail passage. Preparations including Earth swingby on January 8, 1992, June 13, 1993, and October 28, 1994 were made for a fly-by of comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova on February 3, 1996, with option for a remote passage of 21P/Giacobini-Zinner on November 29, 1998, but contact was lost on November 15, 1995. Sakigake info from NSSDC
- VeGa-1 (SU) (also passed Venus) VeGa 1 info from NSSDC
- VeGa-2 (SU) (also passed Venus) VeGa 2 info from NSSDC
- Giotto (ESA); also passed comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup 1992 Giotto info from NSSDC - Comet Halley from Giotto; Giotto page (JPL Stardust server)
Deep Space 1 (Nasa): Launched from Cape Canaveral on October 24, 1998 by a Delta-2 rocket; this rocket also crried to orbit SEDSAT-1, an experimental science and technology satellite built by the University of Alabama at Huntsville Chapter of SEDS.
DS1 was originally scheduled to be launched on July 1, 1998, to fly by comet 76P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura in 2000 as well as Amor (Mars-crossing) asteroid 3352 McAuliffe. Due to launch delay, new targets had to be selected; see press release for details: Asteroid 9969 Braille (previously known as 1992 KD) was passed at a distance of 15 km on July 29, 1999 at 04:45 UT, comet 107P/Wilson-Harrington was encountered in January 2001, and comet 19P/Borrelly was passed on September 22, 2001, 22:30UT at distance of only 2,200 km. Wilson-Harrington is of interest as it has ceased to behave like a comet and now looks like an asteroid (was dubbed 1979VA), while Borelly is one of the most active short-period comets.
DS-1 is part of Nasa's New Millennium Program. DS-1 info from NSSDC.
Stardust (Nasa): Stardust was successfully launched on February 7, 1999 21:04 UT (16:04 EST). After an almost 5-year interplanetary cruise, the spacecraft succesfully flew by the nucleus of Comet P/Wild 2 on January 2, 2004 about 19:45 UT (2:45p.m. EST), and besides taking images and data of the comet's nucleus, collected samples from the comet's coma. It returned to the vicinity of Earth, and and deployed a reentry capsule on January 15, 2006 for touchdown in Utah. During its cruise, Stardust passed and imaged asteroid 5535 Annefrank on November 2, 2002, 4:50 UT at 3300 km. In 2006, studies were initiated to use the Stardust spacecraft in an extended mission called Stardust-NExT, to fly-by comet 9P/Tempel 1, and investigate the artificial crater produced by the impactor of the Deep Impact spacecraft; this rendezvous occured on February 14, 2011. Stardust homepage (JPL); Stardust info (NSSDC); Stardust NExT announce (Nasa HQ PR 06-342, October 30, 2006)
Comet Nucleus Tour, Contour (Nasa): Multiple encounters at comets: After launch on July 4, 2002, this craft had been scheduled to encounter comet 2P/Encke in Nov 2003, 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 in June 2006, 6P/d'Arrest in August 2008. Unfortunately, the spacecraft was presumably lost when igniting its STAR 30 solid rocket engine on 15 August 2002 in order to leave Earth's orbit in a heliocentric trajectory. Contour Project Homepage; Contour info from NSSDC; Contour page (JPL Stardust server)
Rosetta (ESA): Originally scheduled for launch in January 2003, this spacecraft was to softland on comet 46P/Wirtanen in 2011 after one gravity assist flyby at Mars and two at Earth, and after passing by two asteroids (4979 Otawara and 140 Siwa).
Now, Rosetta was successfully launched on March 2, 2004 with an Ariane V G+ from Kourou, and soon after launch, deployed its solar panels. It is to investigate Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It has now passed Earth for gravity assist in March 2005, and flown by Mars on February 25, 2007. Two further Earth gravity assist flybys have occurred in November 2007 and November 2009. During interplanetary cruise, Rosetta was flying within 1,700 km of asteroid 2867 Steins on September 5, 2008, and within 3,000 km of asteroid 21 Lutetia on July 10, 2010. It approached the comet in January to May 2014 and went into a 100-km orbit on August 6, 2014, to start in-situ mapping and investigations. It is to deliver a lander, Philia, in November 2014. The comet will pass its perihelion in August 2015, and Rosetta is intended to continue investigating the comet until about December 2015. Rosetta Homepage (ESA), Rosetta Mars Swingby (ESA); Rosetta info from NSSDC; Philae info (NSSDC)
Deep Impact (Nasa): Successfully launched on January 12, 2005 by Delta II from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. After a successful interplanetary cruise, the spacecraft reached comet 9P/Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005. The mother craft flew by the comet at 4,000 km, and released an impactor of weight 370 kg, made of copper and aluminium, which successfully crashed into the comet at about 10.2 km/s. The flyby craft collected data of the impact and comet. After the end of the primary mission in August 2005, the spacecraft was selected for two subsequent discovery missions: First, its high-resolution camera will be used to look for Earth-sized planets around other stars within the Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh) project, and second, it was scheduled to fly-by comet 85P/Boethin in December 2008 within the Deep Impact eXtended Investigation (DIXI) project. Unfortunately, that comet could not be recovered in time, so a new target was selected: Comet 103P/Hartley 2. Now named EPOXI, its trajectory was adjusted by a series of 5 further Earth flybys for gravity assist, namely on December 31, 2007, on December 29, 2008, on June 29, 2009, on December 28, 2009, and finally on June 27, 2010. Eventually, it approached comet 103P/Hartley 2 for closest encounter on November 4, 2010, investigations starting September 2010. Deep Impact project homepage (U MD), Deep Impact homepage (JPL), Deep Impact info from NSSDC, Deep Impact Impactor (DII) from NSSDC, Images of the Impactor Impact on Comet 9P/Tempel 1; Deep Impact eXtended Investigation (DIXI) and Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh) announce (Nasa HQ PR 06-342, October 30, 2006); EPOXI home
New Horizons Pluto Kuiper Belt Flyby (Nasa): Successfully be launched on January 9, 2006 by Atlas V 551 with Star 48B third stage, this spacecraft passed within 101,867 km of main belt asteroid JF56 on 13 June 2006, and passed by Jupiter for gravity assist on February 28, 2007, on the occasion of which the Jupiter system was studied. After this assist, the mission is on trajectory to Pluto and Charon, where it should arrive nominally on July 14, 2015. It is scheduled to pass Pluto within 10,000 km, Charon at 27,000 km, and produce a long-range 40-km mapping as well as detailed high-resolution images of up to 25m resolution. Before and after Pluto flyby, the spacecraft should encounter one or more Centaur or Kuiper belt objects; it is hoped that the craft will work for another 5 to 10 years. New Horizons info from NSSDC

Scheduled Future Comet Missions

None.

Discarded Projects

Nasa's Comet Halley 1986 Mission
CRAF (Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby), was to be launched 1995 and fly by comet 22P/Kopff in August 2000, after having passed by asteroid Hamburga in June 1998. Was to be the first new-design Mariner Mark II spacecraft. CRAF info from NSSDC
Deep Space 4, Champollion (Nasa): Comet softlanding and sample return. Launch was scheduled for April 19, 2003, arrival at comet 9P/Tempel 1 in 2005, sample return 2010. Champollion / Deep Space 4 info from NSSDC
Pluto-Kuiper Express: Mission to Pluto and the Kuiper belt, to investigate the objects (comet nuclei) there .. Pluto-Kuiper Express info (NSSDC)

Other Missions Doing Comet Research

These missions have primarily other objectives but are also used for comet investigations

Galileo: Observed comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact
Ulysses: Comet studies included Shoemaker-Levy 9. Pased tail of comet C/2006 P1 McNaught ("Great Comet of 2007").
Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Springs passed clse to planet Mars on January 3, 2013, and was observed by the spacecraft operational in orbit and on surface at that time: 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, MER Opportunity, Mars Roconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), MSL Curiosity, MAVEN, and Mars Orbitr Mission (MOM)
Several astronomy satellites (including IRAS, Hubble Space Telescope, Rosat, and several Space Shuttle Missions) were used to observe and/or discover comets

List of Comets Visited by Spacecraft

List of spacecraft visits:

Date           Comet                      Mission       Type

1985 Sep 11    21P/Giacobini-Zinner       ISEE 3/ICE    fly-by
1986 Mar  6    1P/Halley                  Vega 1        fly-by
1986 Mar  8    1P/Halley                  Suisei        fly-by
1986 Mar  9    1P/Halley                  Vega 2        fly-by
1986 Mar 11    1P/Halley                  Sakigake      fly-by
1986 Mar 14    1P/Halley                  Giotto        fly-by
1992 Jul 10    26P/Grigg-Skjellerup       Giotto        fly-by
2001 Jan       107P/Wilson-Harrington     Deep Space 1  fly-by
2001 Sep 22    19P/Borelly                Deep Space 1  fly-by
2004 Jan  2    81P/Wild 2                 Stardust      sample-return
2005 Jul  4    9P/Tempel 1                Deep Impact   impact/fly-by
2007           C/2006 P1  McNaught        Ulysses       passed comet tail
2010 Nov  4    103P/Hartley 2             EPOXI         fly-by
2011 Feb  5    9P/Tempel 1                Stardust-NExT fly-by
2013 Jan  3    C/2013 A1 Siding Springs   7 Mars Spacecraft  Mars approach
2014 Aug       67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko  Rosetta       rendezvous/landing

List of Comets visited by spacecraft:

1P/Halley                   1986 Vega 1, Suisei, Vega 2, Sakigake, Giotto
9P/Tempel 1                 2005 Deep Impact,  2011 Stardust-NExT
19P/Borelly                 2001 Deep Space 1
21P/Giacobini-Zinner        1985 ISEE 3/ICE
26P/Grigg-Skjellerup        1992 Giotto
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko   2014 Rosetta
81P/Wild 2                  2004 Stardust
103P/Hartley 2              2010 EPOXI (Deep Impact)
107P/Wilson-Harrington      2001 Deep Space 1

C/2006 P1  McNaught         2007 Ulysses - passed comet tail
C/2013 A1 Siding Springs    2013 passed Mars, observed by 7 spacecraft

Former candidate comets once considered for spacecraft visit;

2P/Encke                    2003 Contour
6P/d'Arrest                 2008 Contour
22P/Kopff                   2000 CRAF
45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova 1996 Sakigake
46P/Wirtanen                2011 Rosetta
55P/Tempel-Tuttle           1998 Suisei
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann-3  2006 Contour
76P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura   2000 Deep Space 1
85P/Boethin                 2008 DIXI (Deep Impact)