The hibernating space probe Giotto was reawoken by engineers of the
European Space Agency last week to begin a new life.
After its battering experience flying through the tail of Halley鈥檚 comet
in 1986, Giotto was put to sleep. Now ESA has reincarnated the spacecraft
to study another comet, called Grigg-Skjellerup, which it will meet on 10
July.
It took three days of gentle coaxing to wake Giotto. A 70-metre dish
antenna with a 95-kilowatt transmitter, belonging to NASA鈥檚 Deep Space Network
and based near Madrid, was used to send the alarm call to Giotto鈥檚 20-centimetre
antenna.
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