Ulysses
Other Name(s)
- International Solar Polar Mission
- Solar Polar
- 20842
National Affiliation: USA & Europe
Launch Date/Time: 1990-10-06 at 11:47:16 UTC
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
On-orbit dry mass: 370.00 kg
Nominal Power Output: 285.00 W
Description
The primary objectives of Ulysses, formerly the International Solar Polar
Mission (ISPM), are to investigate, as a function of solar latitude, the
properties of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field, of galactic
cosmic rays and neutral interstellar gas, and to study energetic particle
composition and acceleration. The 55 kg payload includes two magnetometers, two
solar wind plasma instruments, a unified radio/plasma wave instrument, three
energetic charged particle instruments, an interstellar neutral gas sensor, a
solar X-ray/cosmic gamma-ray burst detector, and a cosmic dust sensor. The
communications systems is also used to study the solar corona and to search for
gravitational waves. Secondary objectives included interplanetary and planetary
physics investigations during the initial Earth-Jupiter phase and
investigations in the Jovian magnetosphere. The spacecraft used a Jupiter
swingby in Feb. 1992 to transfer to a heliospheric orbit with high heliocentric
inclination, and will pass over the rotational south pole of the sun in
mid-1994 at 2 AU, and over the north pole in mid-1995. A second solar orbit
will take Ulysses again over the south and north poles in years 2000 and 2001,
respectively. The spacecraft is powered by a single radio-isotope generator. It
is spin stabilized at a rate of 5 rpm and its high-gain antenna points
continuously to the earth. A nutation anomaly after launch was controlled by
CONSCAN. The original mission planned for two spacecraft, one built by ESA and
the other by NASA. NASA cancelled its spacecraft in 1981.
Other Ulysses Images
