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Above Credit: NASA Goddard Right Credit: An artist's concept of the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses spacecraft. NASA
By NYAANG
Ulysses is a decommissioned robotic space probe. Its main purpose was to orbit around the Sun and study all of the latitude. Ulysses was launched in 1990, and made three fast scans of the sun in 1994/1995, 2000/2001, and 2007/2008.
Its mission was to study the heliosphere, the intense magnetic bubble, that surrounds the sun by looking at the never-before-examined north and south poles of the Sun and the solar winds.
Data discovered by Ulysses helped determine that the Sun’s magnetic field “reverses” in direction every 11 years. It also showed that there is a weakening of the solar wind over time.
The probe also scanned many comets discovering that comet tails are far longer than expected. After a mid-course correction July 8, 1991, Ulysses passed within about 235,000 miles (378,400 kilometers) of Jupiter at 12:02 UT Feb. 8, 1992, becoming the fifth spacecraft to reach Jupiter. After over 17 years, Ulysses far outlived its 5 year intended mission and was decommissioned in 2009.
Resources: Ulysses, Mission to Sun Ulysses, NASA Share the Science Ulysses, What Is the Solar Cycle?
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