A New Mission Could Rendezvous With Halley's Comet In 2061

A new mission plan has been proposed to rendezvous with Halley’s comet in 2061, offering the first opportunity for a spacecraft to actually meet the comet in-situ. The mission would use two planetary gravitational assists, Jupiter and Saturn, to achieve a low-energy trajectory. The spacecraft would launch with 2000 kg of instrumentation and propellant, using a Hall-effect thruster powered by a Radioisotope Thermal Generator. The mission would reach Halley in 2060, around a year before its next perihelion, and safely outside the orbit of Mars. The spacecraft would have 750 kg of payload for science operations, allowing for close-up data collection as the comet heats up. The mission architecture has a design constraint, with the best launch window being August 2036 and September 2037, requiring more than 20 years to reach the rendezvous point.

• The spacecraft would use a single gravity assist at Jupiter to gain speed, followed by a gravity assist at Saturn to adjust its orbital plane.
• The mission would require a massive amount of energy to match Halley’s retrograde orbit, which is why previous missions only performed flybys.
• The spacecraft would have enough "dry" mass left over to perform scientific observations, allowing for extended observations of the comet.

The mission represents a significant step forward in planetary exploration, offering a potential way to study Halley’s comet in detail. However, the long launch window and high energy requirements make the mission technically challenging. The proposal highlights the importance of gravitational assists and low-energy propulsion systems in future space missions. The mission is a testament to the ingenuity of space scientists and the potential for future exploration of the solar system.

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