1986 mission to Halley's Comet?

The JPL solar sail was probably a no-go as it was just too expensive. Also, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, NASA wanted to launch literally everything on Shuttle, so something using the Shuttle is pretty much a requirement.

The best bet would probably be something similar to Pioneer Venus, a spacecraft based on a Hughes spinner communication satellite with a similar instrument package to Giotto. But, launched from Shuttle's cargo bay like a GEO sat with a PAM-D, rather than Pioneer's Atlas Centaur. This would be the least expensive and most politically plausible option.

However, it would in practice be a very similar spacecraft to Giotto, and it is hard to imagine that NASA would get funding to fly it if Giotto is also going. So, a plausible scenario might be that when the US partner mission to Halley falls through, someone at NASA proposes flying the European-built scientific instruments on a US-built spacecraft launched by Shuttle (this exactly what happened with Ulysses). So, you would have had a joint NASA-ESA alt-Giotto instead of a NASA spacecraft in addition to Giotto.
 
it's popular myth that Shuttle eat way the needed Money
but the realty was that Reagan Administration killed US probe program in 1980s
not only they kill the Halley probe*

VIOR venus radar mapper
Sun Polar Orbiter
Lunar Orbiter
Viking 3&4 proposal was refused
Mars Rover proposal was refused
Voyager 3 proposal using the backup probe.
They even try to kill Galileo probe and the Hubble space telescope !

in end NASA had to reactivated a old space probe "International Sun Earth Explorer" from 1978
it was hold up to ridicule by the International press, that Fleet modern probe reach Comet
and that "We land on Moon" nation send used Hardware with little scientific results from Sun probe scanning a Comet
special that Soviet and European make ground braking mission and gain a lot attention and Scientific Data.

I wonder if some one at NASA had guts to tell Reagan in face
"Hey Mister Presiden, ok cut the Halley Probe program, but that leave the Comet for Soviets first to reach !"
i guess Reagan trow billion to bring Halley Probe in action

Either JLP refurbish the Voyager Backup and launch it on Titan III34. or build based on Hughes spinner communication satellite a Giotto like probe and launch it July 1985 with shuttle
Both option have the advantage to be ready in 5 years at reasonable cost

*=
let Face it
The Result was to blame on Both sites the ambitious NASA and it $800 million proposal and Reagan Administration and there economy measure
That Halley probe had wild proposals all were Costly
That JPL solar sail was in 1980 only a concept, they had needed around $800 million to complete the project !
mostly R&D on the sail, for launch of a Prototype and later for probe and launch it
NASA wanted a Halley Probe with Ion engine instead of Venus Fly by
but that was unproven technology in 1980, see NASA first probe of this kind was Deep Space 1 launch 1998
again high costly idea because the R&D on Ion Engine and high power Solar cells to power it
 

Archibald

Banned
That article is a piece of junk. It wasn't the shuttle that killed the Halley mission. To make a long story short, because of orbital mechanics ballistic flybys (as done by the Soviet-Japanese-European armada) would happen at a very high speed thus the science window was very short, barely hours or a couple of days.
Well, a decade before Halley (1976) American scientists, notably JPL, convinced themselves that no good science could be done at such speed and with so little time; so they sought a way of slowing down the probe for a longer and more productive encounter.
Hence their attempt at solar-electric propulsion and same thing for the solar sail. With perfect hindsight, ballistic flybys worked pretty well, so all that fuss about solar sails or electric propulsion was dumb.
 
Top