What was the Giotto spacecraft sent to investigate in 1985?
Giotto (spacecraft) Giotto (spacecraft) Giotto was a European robotic spacecraft mission from the European Space Agency. The spacecraft flew by and studied Halley's Comet and in doing so became the first spacecraft to make close up observations of a comet. On 13 March 1986, the spacecraft succeeded in approaching Halley's nucleus at a distance of 596 kilometers. It was named after the Early Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone, who draw free hand perfect circles according to Giorgio Vasari biography. He had observed Halley's Comet in 1301 and was inspired to depict it as the star of Bethlehem in his painting "Adoration
Giotto (spacecraft) long distance measurements, followed by the Russian Vegas which would locate the nucleus, and the resulting information sent back would allow "Giotto" to precisely target very close to the nucleus. Because Giotto would pass so very close to the nucleus ESA was mostly convinced it would not survive the encounter due to the spacecraft colliding at very high speed with the many dust particles from the comet. The coordinated group of probes became known as the Halley Armada. The spacecraft was derived from the GEOS research satellite built by British Aerospace in Filton, Bristol, and modified with the addition of