The International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft was originally known as International Sun/Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3) satellite, launched August 12, 1978. It was part of the ISEE (International Sun-Earth Explorer) international cooperative program between NASA and ESRO/ESA to study the interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind. The program used three spacecraft, a mother/daughter pair (ISEE 1 and ISEE 2) and a heliocentric spacecraft (ISEE 3, later renamed ICE).
ISEE 3 was the first spacecraft to be placed in a halo orbit at one of Earth-Sun Lagrangian points (L1). It was later (as ICE) sent to visit Comet Giacobini-Zinner and became the first spacecraft to do so by flying through a comet's tail passing the nucleus at a distance of approximately 7800 km. ICE was not equipped with cameras.
Read more about International Cometary Explorer: Original Mission: International Sun/Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3), Second Mission: International Cometary Explorer, End of Mission, ISEE 1 and ISEE 2
Famous quotes containing the word explorer:
“In my writing I am acting as a map maker, an explorer of psychic areas ... a cosmonaut of inner space, and I see no point in exploring areas that have already been thoroughly surveyed.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)