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What's Up With Ulysses?, alive? dead? cancelled soon?
deglr6328
post Sep 27 2005, 04:05 AM
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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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Guest_Myran_*
post Sep 27 2005, 10:35 AM
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Yes I havnt heard much news about Ulysses since it flew trough the tail of Hyakutake, (and got some personal exitement over same comet. Me and a friend watched it span more than half of the sky!)

The mission page say its operational and with funding until March 2008:
http://ulysses.esa.int/science-e/www/area/....cfm?fareaid=11
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djellison
post Sep 27 2005, 10:48 AM
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http://ulysses-ops.jpl.esa.int/ulsfct/opssumm.html

Current operations

.....
23 September Routine Operations

24 September Routine Operations

25 September Routine Operations

268.16:43-17:06 23m realtime 8192 bps plus 21m playback 512 bps data lost due
(268.16:22-16:43) to DSS-14 inability to acquire caused by bad predict file.
DR G106105 refers.

26 September KEP IFC - cancelled as instrument is off.
Earth pointing manoeuvre w/power save - 269.11:47 SCET

...


Doug
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deglr6328
post Sep 27 2005, 06:22 PM
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Hmmm looks like alot of the instruments are switched off "HUS, BAM-E, KEP EPAC/GAS and STO2 are off." from here.
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ynyralmaen
post Sep 28 2005, 08:23 AM
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QUOTE (deglr6328 @ Sep 27 2005, 08:22 PM)
Hmmm looks like alot of the instruments are switched off "HUS, BAM-E, KEP EPAC/GAS and STO2 are off." from here.
*


That's due to power-saving measures. As the output from the RTGs is decreasing, not all the instruments can be operated at once. The (arguably) "key" instruments for monitoring solar wind conditions, wind composition, and the interplanetary magnetic field are all on, and providing near-continuous, unique data of excellent quality.

It's unfortunate that all the other instruments cannot currently operate at once... there is some swapping of operation time going on between the instruments, and some instruments are more likely to be kept on because they're providing heat that prevents the hydrazine from freezing at key locations in the fuel lines. As Ulysses nears the Sun again over the next couple of years, the heaters will not be required so much, freeing up power to operate more of the instruments again.

Funding has been approved by ESA and NASA to the end of the third fast latitude scan in 2008 (when Ulysses goes from solar pole to pole in 10 months). As a result of the change of focus at NASA, they're reviewing their funding for Ulysses and around 10 other missions, including Voyager. A loss of any of these extended missions would be a terrible waste - they're providing excellent, valuable data for a relatively tiny outlay. Ulysses is particularly unique - it's probably going to be a very long time before a spacecraft is put into a near-polar solar orbit again, so the data are extremely valuable.

As well as providing the valuable out-of-ecliptic heliospheric data that it was primarily designed to do, Ulysses did cross a second comet tail in 2000 (McNaught-Hartley), and performed unique observations of Jupiter last year. See the
Ulysses Status Reports for more information.
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ljk4-1
post Oct 6 2005, 02:42 PM
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Fifteen years after its launch, the grand ESA/NASA Ulysses space mission is
still going strong, orbiting the Sun and continuing to tell exciting stories
about our nearest star.

More at:

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMTNC5Y3EE_index_0.html


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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SigurRosFan
post Oct 9 2005, 01:16 PM
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Ulysses 15th Anniversary

Video: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/solar_syste...ideoOct7-cc.mov (26.5 MB)

October 6, 1990 to October 6, 2005


--------------------
- blue_scape / Nico -
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deglr6328
post Oct 9 2005, 06:01 PM
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Neat video. Does anyone know how to unlock the easter egg in thispage? It's driving me nuts. Every once in a while an icon that looks like a keyhole will appear on the applet but if I try to click on it nothing happens and then it disappears!......... wacko.gif
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tfisher
post Oct 9 2005, 06:26 PM
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QUOTE (deglr6328 @ Oct 9 2005, 02:01 PM)
Does anyone know how to unlock the easter egg in this page? It's driving me nuts. Every once in a while an icon that looks like a keyhole will appear on the applet but if I try to click on it nothing happens and then it disappears!......... wacko.gif
*


I clicked around randomly in the applet for a couple of minutes and seemed to hit it eventually by chance. It just adds options to see the orbits of outer planets: Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.
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deglr6328
post Oct 9 2005, 07:12 PM
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oh. well that's not very exciting is it.
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Rakhir
post Nov 17 2006, 04:47 PM
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Ulysses embarks on third set of polar passes

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMWPIUXJUE_index_0.html
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The Messenger
post Nov 27 2006, 09:48 PM
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QUOTE (Rakhir @ Nov 17 2006, 09:47 AM) *
Ulysses embarks on third set of polar passes

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMWPIUXJUE_index_0.html

I wandered around and found this webpage:

http://ulysses-ops.jpl.esa.int/ulsfct/orbits.html

Which includes current orbital data.
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ustrax
post Jan 29 2007, 03:29 PM
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For those interested I've posted at the spaceurope blog a small query with Dr. Richard Marsden about Ulysses.


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remcook
post Jan 29 2007, 03:52 PM
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ustrax: interesting. But what's up with the mid-sentence colour changes? sorry to nitpick, but it's something I find a bit annoying when reading. I'm used to there being a link if there are colour changes in sentences. For the rest, interesting website. Keep it up!
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ustrax
post Jan 29 2007, 03:59 PM
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QUOTE (remcook @ Jan 29 2007, 03:52 PM) *
ustrax: interesting. But what's up with the mid-sentence colour changes? sorry to nitpick, but it's something I find a bit annoying when reading. I'm used to there being a link if there are colour changes in sentences. For the rest, interesting website. Keep it up!


Thanks remcook, it is always good to have some feedback.
About the colour change...I'm still looking for an editing style...
It is just a way of differencing my words from the guest's ones.
Looks like it's not the better solution.
I'll think about another way of doing it.

Once more, thanks for visiting it, you're welcome, some more queries under way and future surprises being cooked...As this guys use to say...Stay tuned! wink.gif


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"Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe
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