[FPSPACE] FW: ESA: Ulysses' mission extended

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: Lynn Cominsky <lynnc at universe.sonoma.edu>
>To: lynnc at universe.sonoma.edu
>Subject: ESA: Ulysses' mission extended
>Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:53:38 -0800
>
>THE FOLLOWING RELEASE WAS RECEIVED FROM THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY'S
>WEB PORTAL - SCIENCE, IN NOORDWIJK, THE NETHERLANDS AND IS
>FORWARDED FOR YOUR INFORMATION.  (FORWARDING DOES NOT IMPLY
>ENDORSEMENT BY THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY).
>Lynn Cominsky, American Astronomical Society
>lynnc at universe.sonoma.edu  1-707-664-2655
>
>ESA PIO source:
>Monica Talevi
>Science Information Manager
>ESA - Communication Dept.
>Tel: +31 71 565 3223
>Fax: +31 71 565 4101
>Email: Monica.Talevi at esa.int
>
>
>Article and images can be found at:
>http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM3KY53R8F_index_0.html
>
>
>16 November 2007
>
>
>Ulysses' mission extended
>
>ESA’s Science Programme Committee has unanimously approved to continue 
>the
>operations of 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 NASA/ESA mission.
>
>  In addition to pursuing its long-term goal of exploring the heliosphere
>in four dimensions – 3 spatial dimensions and time - Ulysses is a key
>member of the Heliospheric Network, the international fleet of spacecraft
>presently operating at many different locations in the heliosphere and
>beyond.
>
>Ulysses’ joint measurements with the twin STEREO satellites that were
>launched in October 2006 are high on the list of priorities for the coming
>months.
>
>“This new lease of life is great news for the international heliophysics
>community”, said Richard Marsden, ESA’s Mission Manager and Project
>Scientist for Ulysses. “No other spacecraft can provide the
>out-of-ecliptic measurements made by Ulysses. The Sun’s activity will 
>soon
>pick up again, and there are plenty of unsolved questions to tackle.”
>
>Among these unsolved questions is an apparent asymmetry in the temperature
>of the Sun’s polar coronal holes, which appears to be related to the
>magnetic polarity. This was discovered during the first high-latitude
>passes in 1994 and 1995, when the magnetically positive northern polar
>coronal hole was found to be cooler than the southern pole. Data acquired
>during the coming months will hopefully shed new light on this puzzle.
>
>For a satellite in its eighteenth year in space, Ulysses is in remarkably
>good health. Nevertheless, in order to compensate for the steadily
>diminishing power output of the onboard radioisotope thermoelectric
>generator (RTG), the spacecraft operations team has had to devise a new
>operational strategy that will allow the majority of the scientific
>instruments to operate throughout the period covered by the extension
>without much power-sharing.
>
>So what will the future have in store for Ulysses? “We’re all very 
>pleased
>that we will still get great scientific data for another year,” said
>Marsden. “Beyond that, we’ll have to wait and see.”
>
>Ulysses has a finite lifetime, determined by technical limitations. There
>are no limitations to the science that we can still do. We are on an
>exploratory mission, probing the most fundamental processes of our solar
>system. Every bit of new data holds the promise of a new discovery of
>profound importance.
>
>