Abstract
“SAKIGAKE”, the first interplanetary spacecraft of Japan was successfully launched from Kagoshima Space Center on January 8, 1985. The name SAKIGAKE means the pioneer and its main mission is the verification of the launch capability of newly developed Mu-3SII launch vehicle and the technology applied to the Halley”s comet explorer “SUISEI”, as well as the communication link ability between the spacecraft and Usuda Deep Space Center (UDSC). SUISEI means a comet and its launch on August 19, 1985, was also perfect, and two spacecraft are flying on their due courses to Halley’s comet. The design of both spacecraft is almost same except for the scientific instruments. In this paper the spacecraft system design, the characteristics of subsystems and the present status of these two spacecraft in flight are described.
