Preliminary results of the Giotto radio science experiment

Abstract

Doppler and ranging measurements using the radio signal of the GIOTTO spacecraft were taken before, during, and after the encounter with Comet Halley on 13 14 March 1986. The spacecraft velocity was found to decrease by a total of 23.3 cm s −1 due to impacting gas and (primarily) dust in the cometary atmosphere. A preliminary dust production rate Q d ⋍ 10 × 10 3 kg s −1 is found to be consistent with this deceleration. Power spectra of the carrier phase fluctuations reveal an increase in level and a flattening of the spectrum just prior to encounter, presumably associated with the enhanced dust impact rate. Finally, simulated Doppler time profiles are computed using the radial dependence of plasma density observed by the GIOTTO in situ investigations. It is shown that the cometary electron content profile would have been clearly seen if a dual-frequency downlink radio configuration had been available at encounter.