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| ESA Bulletin 136: The Epic Voyage of Ulysses |
| Ulysses has forever changed the way scientists view the Sun and its effect on the surrounding space. In the November 2008 issue of the ESA Bulletin Richard Marsden and Nigel Angold consider the epic voyage of this remarkable spacecraft. |
| Date: 31 Oct 2008 |
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| Ulysses spacecraft data indicate solar wind at a 50-year low |
| Data from the joint ESA/NASA Ulysses mission show that the Sun has reduced its output of solar wind to the lowest levels since accurate readings have become available. This current state of the Sun could reduce the natural shielding that envelops our Solar System.
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| Date: 23 Sep 2008 |
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| Ulysses mission to conclude in July |
| After more than 17 years of operation, the joint ESA/NASA mission Ulysses will officially conclude in July this year. The remarkable achievements of this mission were recalled at a press conference held at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 12 June. |
| Date: 12 Jun 2008 |
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| Ulysses team honoured at SpaceOps 2008 |
| The Ulysses Mission Operations Team has received the 2008 International SpaceOps Award for Outstanding Achievement. |
| Date: 13 May 2008 |
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| Ulysses mission coming to a natural end |
| Ulysses, the mission to study the Sun's poles and the influence of our star on surrounding space is coming to an end. After more than 17 years in space - almost four times its expected lifetime - the mission is finally succumbing to its harsh environment and is likely to finish sometime in the next month or two. |
| Date: 22 Feb 2008 |
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| Ulysses at the Sun's North Pole |
| On 14 January, almost a year after last visiting the south solar pole, the European-built Ulysses spaceprobe arrived over the Sun's northern polar cap, thereby completing the third rapid south-to-north transit to date. "This important milestone for the joint ESA-NASA mission also coincides with the start of a new cycle of solar activity," explains Richard Marsden, ESA's Ulysses Mission Manager, "It's been calm on the space weather front recently and so we are looking forward to some solar fireworks over the coming months as the number of sunspots increases." |
| Date: 15 Jan 2008 |
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| Ulysses Mission Extension Approved |
| Meeting in Paris on 12-13 November, ESA's Science Programme Committee unanimously approved a proposal to continue operating the highly successful Ulysses spacecraft until March 2009. This latest extension, for a period of 12 months, is the fourth in the history of the joint ESA-NASA mission. |
| Date: 14 Nov 2007 |
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| Surprises from the Sun's South Pole |
| In keeping with the first and second south polar passes (in 1994 and 2000), the latest high-latitude excursion of the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses mission has already produced some surprises. In mid-December, although very close to the minimum of its 11-year sunspot cycle, the Sun showed that it is still capable of producing a series of remarkably energetic outbursts. The solar storms, which were confined to the equatorial regions, produced quite intense bursts of particle radiation that were clearly observed by near-Earth satellites. Surprisingly, similar increases in radiation were detected by the instruments on board Ulysses, even though it was three times as far away and almost over the south solar pole. |
| Date: 19 Feb 2007 |
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| Ulysses at Maximum South Polar Latitude |
| Wednesday 7 February quite literally marks another high point in the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses mission. For the third time in a long and highly successful career, Ulysses has reached its maximum south solar latitude of 80 degrees as it flies over the Sun's southern polar cap. Launched in 1990, the European-built spacecraft visits both polar regions once every 6.2 years as it circles the Sun in an orbit that is almost perpendicular to the ecliptic. |
| Date: 07 Feb 2007 |
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| Ulysses Embarks on Third Set of Polar Passes |
| On 17 November, the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses mission reaches another important milestone on its epic out-of-ecliptic journey: the start of the third passage over the Sun's south pole. Launched in 1990, the European-built spacecraft is engaged in the exploration of the heliosphere, the bubble in space blown out by the solar wind. Given the capricious nature of the Sun, this third visit will undoubtedly reveal new and unexpected features of our star's environment. |
| Date: 17 Nov 2006 |
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| Ulysses Plays Central Role in Heliospheric Network Workshop |
| More than 80 scientists from Europe and the US gathered in Oxnard, California, at the beginning of November to pore over the latest results from the Heliospheric Network, the international fleet of spacecraft studying the Sun and heliosphere, and to discuss its future. A key member of the Network is the joint ESA-NASA mission Ulysses, soon to embark on its third passage over the Sun's poles. Together with SOHO and NASA's ACE, Voyager and Wind spacecraft, Ulysses is exploring the influence of the Sun on our deep space environment from the unique out-of-ecliptic orbit that takes it over the Sun's polar regions every 6.2 years. |
| Date: 15 Nov 2006 |
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| The Flow of Interstellar Helium in the Solar System |
| 'Consensus on conditions in the cloud of interstellar gas surrounding the Sun from several in-situ observation methods'
Through coordinated observations with instruments on several ESA and NASA spacecraft and a collaborative analysis effort hosted by the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) an international team of scientists has compiled for the first time a consistent set of the physical parameters of helium in the very local interstellar gas cloud the surrounds the solar system. |
| Date: 20 Sep 2004 |
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| Ulysses Mission Extended |
| At a meeting in Paris on 11 and 12 February 2004, ESA's Science Programme Committee unanimously approved a proposal to continue operating the highly successful Ulysses spacecraft until March 2008. |
| Date: 12 Feb 2004 |
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| Ulysses Catches Another Comet by the Tail |
| Ulysses is not normally associated with the study of comets. Nonetheless, the European-built space probe demonstrated its ability as a "comet catcher" when it crossed the distant tail of comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) in 1996. |
| Date: 09 Feb 2004 |
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| Ulysses and Jupiter - Second Rendezvous |
| Over the next few weeks, scientists on the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses mission will be turning their attention away from the Sun, and looking at Jupiter instead. In early February, the European-built Ulysses spacecraft will approach the giant planet for a second time. The first encounter, 12 years ago almost to the day, had dramatic consequences for the 350 kg space probe. Like a giant slingshot, Jupiter's immense gravity field propelled Ulysses out of the ecliptic plane, sending it on its way to fly over the poles of the Sun. |
| Date: 29 Jan 2004 |
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| Ulysses sees Galactic Dust on the rise |
| Since early 1992 Ulysses has been monitoring the stream of stardust flowing through our Solar System. The stardust is embedded in the local galactic cloud through which the Sun is moving at a speed of 26 kilometres every second. As a result of this relative motion, a single dust grain takes twenty years to traverse the Solar System. Observations by the DUST experiment on board Ulysses have shown that the stream of stardust is highly affected by the Sun's magnetic field. |
| Date: 01 Aug 2003 |
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| Unusual views of the Sun |
| For centuries, we have worshipped it and wondered at it, but it's only now that we are getting a really good look at it. Although you can't gaze at the Sun with the naked eye, thanks to modern science we can view images of our nearest star that confirm the fiery glory our ancestors could only imagine. |
| Date: 21 May 2002 |
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| Ulysses gets a new partner in the hunt for the source of gamma-ray bursts |
| After a lonely nine months, Ulysses has a new partner in gamma-ray burst detection. On 21 November, the ESA/NASA spacecraft in orbit high above the Sun's poles, and Mars Odyssey, NASA's spacecraft recently arrived at the Red Planet, detected their first gamma-ray burst together. |
| Date: 18 Dec 2001 |
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| Ulysses reaches the Sun's north pole |
| For the second time in its 11-year lifetime, ESA's Ulysses spacecraft is about to fly over the Sun's north pole. On Saturday, 13 October, it will reach its highest north solar latitude (80 degrees north). At about the same time, solar and heliospheric scientists will meet in Oxnard, California, to discuss the latest findings about the heliosphere, the vast region of space blown out by the solar wind and over which our Sun holds sway. |
| Date: 11 Oct 2001 |
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| Ulysses sees the Sun begin to quieten down |
| Order is returning to the solar wind as the Sun begins to shake off the chaos that has characterised its behaviour during the recent peak in its 11-year activity cycle. |
| Date: 08 Oct 2001 |
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