The Giotto mission was designed to study Comet Halley, and also studied Comet Grigg-Skjellerup during its extended mission. The major objectives of the mission were to: (1) obtain colour photographs of the nucleus; (2) determine the elemental and isotopic composition of volatile components in the cometary coma, particularly parent molecules; (3) characterize the physical and chemical processes that occur in the cometary atmosphere and ionosphere; (4) determine the elemental and isotopic composition of dust particles; (5) measure the total gas-production rate and dust flux and size/mass distribution and derive the dust-to-gas ratio; and, (6) investigate the macroscopic systems of plasma flows resulting from the cometary-solar wind interaction. The European spaceship “Giotto” was launched from French Guiana on July 2nd 1985 and met with Halley’s Comet on March 14, 1986.
The 18c stamp depicts the European spaceship "Giotto" launched by an Ariane rocket fro the Kourou launching site in the French Guiana on July 2, 1985. Its objective was to study Halley's comet, which it met on March 14, 1986 at a distance of 375 miles. Giotto's sensory instruments sent back to Earth a lot of information about the comet. Merja sent me this FDC. Merja sent me this interesting maxim card.