Mission Atlas
← Mission directory

Mission record

Sakigake

Also known as MS-T5, Pioneer

Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science, U of Tokyo · Launched

Explore trajectory

Lost · Success

Sakigake is a test spacecraft that flew by Comet P/Halley on its sunward side in 1986.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
M-3SII
Launch site
Uchinoura Space Center, Japan
Countries
Japan
Mission types
Flyby, Technology demonstrator

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched from Uchinoura Space Center on an M-3SII

    JAXA gives04:26JST on January8,1985; this is19:26UTC on January7. The older catalog day label used the local launch date.

    Earth

  2. Flyby

    Flew by Comet Halley on its sunward side

    1P/Halley

  3. Loss of contact

    Telemetry contact lost

  4. Mission end

    JAXA records the end of Sakigake operations

    This agency endpoint is distinct from the1995 telemetry-loss date in NSSDCA; remaining observation and contact definitions are documented in the source review.

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Sakigake · Spacecraft · lost

    Destinations: 1P/Halley

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: January 21, 1985 to January 1, 1992

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Sakigake: ISAS/JAXA reprocessed source positions; historical ecliptic/equatorial frame realizations inferred and velocities derived. · January 21, 1985 to January 1, 1992

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 15, 2026