What's Up With Ulysses? - Unmanned Spaceflight.com

What's Up With Ulysses?, alive? dead? cancelled soon?

deglr6328 View Member Profile	Sep 27 2005, 04:05 AM Post #1
Member Group: Members Posts: 356 Joined: 12-March 05 Member No.: 190	What is up with the tiny Ulysses spacecraft that was launched in 1990 to study the solar whatever at high lattitudes? Last I heard it was in danger of dying because the RTG power was running low and at aphelion there was a risk of the hydrazine freezing/exploding in its propulsion system. Well that was like a year ago and I haven't heard anything since. It looks like it should've passed aphelion by now and should be out of danger..... Its been going up there for over a full solar cycle, is it one of the missions on the chopping block because of the new humans on moon/mars thing?

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deglr6328 View Member Profile	Feb 23 2008, 08:40 PM Post #2
Member Group: Members Posts: 356 Joined: 12-March 05 Member No.: 190	Looks like my old thread was just a few years too early! I'm not criticizing the decision to switch off the HGA but I want to understand exactly what happened. They switched off the 60W HGA in attempt to divert the extra energy to the heater and science instruments instead but found that not only would the HGA not turn back on again but they couldn't even re-route the power to the heaters either. Right? But is the fuel freezing faster than expected now due to the fact that those 60W which would have been dissipated in the HGA subsystem are wasted out the RTG?

Posts in this topic

deglr6328 What's Up With Ulysses? Sep 27 2005, 04:05 AM

Myran Yes I havnt heard much news about Ulysses since it... Sep 27 2005, 10:35 AM

djellison http://ulysses-ops.jpl.esa.int/ulsfct/opssumm.html... Sep 27 2005, 10:48 AM

deglr6328 Hmmm looks like alot of the instruments are switch... Sep 27 2005, 06:22 PM

ynyralmaen QUOTE (deglr6328 @ Sep 27 2005, 08:22 PM)Hmmm... Sep 28 2005, 08:23 AM

ljk4-1 Fifteen years after its launch, the grand ESA/NASA... Oct 6 2005, 02:42 PM

SigurRosFan Ulysses 15th Anniversary Video: http://www.jpl.na... Oct 9 2005, 01:16 PM

deglr6328 Neat video. Does anyone know how to unlock the eas... Oct 9 2005, 06:01 PM

tfisher QUOTE (deglr6328 @ Oct 9 2005, 02:01 PM)Does ... Oct 9 2005, 06:26 PM

deglr6328 oh. well that's not very exciting is it. Oct 9 2005, 07:12 PM

Rakhir Ulysses embarks on third set of polar passes http... Nov 17 2006, 04:47 PM

The Messenger QUOTE (Rakhir @ Nov 17 2006, 09:47 AM) Ul... Nov 27 2006, 09:48 PM

ustrax For those interested I've posted at the spaceu... Jan 29 2007, 03:29 PM

remcook ustrax: interesting. But what's up with the mi... Jan 29 2007, 03:52 PM

ustrax QUOTE (remcook @ Jan 29 2007, 03:52 PM) u... Jan 29 2007, 03:59 PM

remcook ah I see now. Jan 29 2007, 04:38 PM

ustrax There goes Ulysses...again... I really enjoy Dr.... Feb 7 2007, 01:47 PM

peter59 QUOTE (ustrax @ Feb 7 2007, 02:47 PM) ... Feb 23 2008, 09:14 AM

tedstryk QUOTE (peter59 @ Feb 23 2008, 09:14 AM) I... Feb 25 2008, 03:08 PM

AlexBlackwell Ulysses scores a hat-trick ESA 7 February 2007 Feb 7 2007, 05:34 PM

nprev I agree with ustrax; the longevity of this spacecr... Feb 11 2007, 08:17 PM

Paolo QUOTE (nprev @ Feb 11 2007, 09:17 PM) Als... Feb 11 2007, 08:44 PM

IM4 QUOTE (Paolo @ Feb 11 2007, 08:44 PM) Bac... Feb 23 2008, 01:23 PM

ugordan QUOTE (IM4 @ Feb 23 2008, 02:23 PM) Novem... Feb 26 2008, 09:40 AM

tedstryk For most of that time it should be away from major... Feb 26 2008, 03:46 PM

Jeff7 QUOTE (nprev @ Feb 11 2007, 03:17 PM) I a... Feb 13 2007, 03:36 AM

centsworth_II QUOTE (Jeff7 @ Feb 12 2007, 10:36 PM) A c... Feb 13 2007, 03:56 AM

Jeff7 QUOTE (centsworth_II @ Feb 12 2007, 10:56... Feb 21 2007, 04:06 AM

Littlebit Ulysses Update: http://www.spaceref.com/news/view... Feb 20 2007, 02:54 PM

dvandorn This is the old argument they went through when th... Feb 21 2007, 03:43 PM

David QUOTE (dvandorn @ Feb 21 2007, 03:43 PM) ... Feb 22 2007, 02:19 AM

ustrax We'll miss you... Feb 22 2008, 02:56 PM

ilbasso QUOTE (dvandorn @ Feb 21 2007, 10:43 AM) ... Feb 22 2008, 04:23 PM

djellison Well - there's a lot of science to be had from... Feb 22 2008, 03:37 PM

stevesliva You know, for all the flack that ESA's press f... Feb 22 2008, 06:07 PM

djellison I'm hoping that this is how MER goes out - wit... Feb 22 2008, 06:41 PM

deglr6328 Looks like my old thread was just a few years too ... Feb 23 2008, 08:40 PM

djellison Basically, yes. That's my understanding of it... Feb 23 2008, 09:00 PM

edstrick Remember that Ulysses needs to periodically re-ori... Feb 24 2008, 08:28 AM

mcaplinger QUOTE (edstrick @ Feb 24 2008, 12:28 AM) ... Feb 24 2008, 04:21 PM

robspace54 Thermal Constraints of the Reaction Control Subsys... Feb 25 2008, 09:42 PM

tedstryk I know that during the Jupiter Distant Encounter i... Feb 26 2008, 05:35 AM

IM4 Yep, I made a stupid mistake. Or even two. As for... Feb 26 2008, 04:26 PM

robspace54 This paper from 2004 tells us that the "freez... Feb 27 2008, 06:48 PM

mcaplinger From Emily's blog on planetary.org about Ulyss... Mar 15 2008, 02:05 AM

Mongo There are some fine lines in Tennyson's poem U... Mar 15 2008, 02:15 AM

elakdawalla Thanks for the tip, Mike. Haven't gotten to b... Mar 15 2008, 03:44 AM

Paolo From Dante's Commedia (Inferno XXVI): 'O ... Mar 15 2008, 09:31 PM

dilo QUOTE (Paolo @ Mar 15 2008, 10:31 PM) fat... Mar 16 2008, 08:25 AM

jamescanvin Looks like news regarding the death of Ulysses may... Apr 16 2008, 09:52 AM

GravityWaves After more than 17 years relentlessly exploring th... Jun 5 2008, 04:16 PM

Paolo From the "programmes in progress" sectio... Jun 8 2008, 09:34 AM

Paolo Today at ESA Headquarters, the Ulysses Legacy pres... Jun 12 2008, 07:09 PM

robspace54 Today is June 30th, so folks, say goodbye to old U... Jun 30 2008, 08:40 PM

tedstryk QUOTE (robspace54 @ Jun 30 2008, 09:40 PM... Jul 1 2008, 02:23 PM

nprev A sad day to be sure, but also a happy one. Could ... Jul 1 2008, 03:34 PM

ynyralmaen Yes, a hugely successful mission... many congrats ... Jul 1 2008, 07:39 PM

Rakhir Ulysses hanging on valiantly http://www.esa.int/es... Jul 3 2008, 09:49 PM

ustrax Humm...changes in the solar system?...any idea of ... Sep 22 2008, 10:02 AM

tanjent That should indeed be interesting. I assume the ph... Sep 22 2008, 12:59 PM

ustrax I'm starting to get the chills...Can it be rel... Sep 22 2008, 04:06 PM

Del Palmer Don't fret, a new sunspot just appeared today. Sep 22 2008, 10:32 PM

Del Palmer Ulysses finds that the solar wind pressure and mag... Sep 23 2008, 05:47 PM

SolarSystemRubble QUOTE (Del Palmer @ Sep 23 2008, 12:47 PM... Sep 23 2008, 06:21 PM

Sunspot QUOTE (SolarSystemRubble @ Sep 23 2008, 07... Sep 24 2008, 07:11 AM

imipak Climatology's been ruled off-topic for UMSF I... Sep 24 2008, 09:27 AM

Paolo There are status updates on Ulysses at http://ulys... Jan 4 2009, 11:06 AM

Paolo The latest mission status. Ulysses is still alive... Mar 17 2009, 04:54 PM

elakdawalla I was in JPL's Space Flight Operations Facilit... Mar 17 2009, 06:44 PM

tedstryk I would love it if it picked up one last comet tai... Mar 18 2009, 01:34 PM

G0DXS The day has finally come! The last day for mis... Jun 24 2009, 04:15 AM

robspace54 The little spacecraft that could... and DID from O... Jun 27 2009, 06:53 PM

dmuller Man I saw the launch live at Cape Canaveral. I was... Jun 29 2009, 11:33 PM

dmuller From the mission ops blog: QUOTE UTC Timestamp: 2... Jun 29 2009, 11:36 PM

Astro0 While Goldstone is down, the torch has been passed... Jun 30 2009, 06:58 AM

ustrax "The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed Fr... Jun 30 2009, 07:45 AM

dmuller Ulysses has just been switched off in good config ... Jun 30 2009, 08:21 PM

cbcnasa Thank you and farewell Ulysses Jul 2 2009, 04:54 PM

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