News In Brief

US scientist's project going on Soviets' comet spacecraft

In a rare collaborative effort between American and Soviet scientists, a shoe-box-size experiment designed by University of Chicago physicist John Simpson was launched Saturday aboard the Soviet Union's Vega spacecraft, headed toward Halley's comet, a university spokesman disclosed Thursday. An identical instrument will be placed aboard a second Soviet spacecraft scheduled to be launched today.

Mr. Simpson described the opportunity as ''a demonstration of the cooperative , peaceful space exploration which can achieved between our two countries.''

The experiment, a cosmic dust analyzer, will measure the mass and intensity of dust particles as the Soviet spacecraft passes near Halley's comet sometime in March 1986.