Ulysses Space Mission Finally Coming To an End

Dusty writes "After several false alarms, the Ulysses Mission is finally ending. According to the Spacecraft Operations Manager's latest status report, the last track will be on 30th June 2009 from 15:25 until 20:20 UTC. 'We've tried to bolster our dwindling tracking allocation with some success by grabbing antenna time released on short notice (mostly by the Spitzer Project). However, weekly data return figures are now typically 10% or less. And soon, even 512 bps from 70m antennas will be a thing of the past.' Further details about Ulysses' 18-year mission are available from NASA and the ESA. We discussed the failing spacecraft last summer when it looked like its fuel was going to freeze, but through clever engineering, experts managed to squeeze out another year.

Comments

Bloomsday

[Beer is good]

But June 16 is Bloomsday. How could they not end Ulysses on Bloomsday. That's when it all happens anyway.

Not satisfied with polluting Earth

[unlametheweak]

Seems like they're going to abandon the space craft as garbage, contributing yet again to intergalactic pollution. If you love this universe you should keep it clean.

Re:Not satisfied with polluting Earth

[Tablizer]

abandon the space craft as garbage, contributing yet again to intergalactic pollution.

Don't worry, future cockroaches will put it in a museum.
     

Re:Not satisfied with polluting Earth

[bencoder]

Do you know how fracking big the universe is? Even just our little solar system. This thing is orbiting the sun, like a planet. A planet the size of a small car. There's a lot of space around it. Even if we mined the whole planet and sent up as many of them as we could, we couldn't send up more than the mass of the earth. There would be a tiny tiny miniscule chance of them hitting each other.

Please, have some respect for the scale here. I take it when you're visiting people's houses, you don't leave behind any flakes of your skin, or any molecules or crumbs of any part of you behind? Hypocrite.

Re:Not satisfied with polluting Earth

[unlametheweak]

I take it when you're visiting people's houses, you don't leave behind any flakes of your skin, or any molecules or crumbs of any part of you behind? Hypocrite.

I'll have you know that I molt once a year in the privacy of my bathroom. No hypocrisy here.

The Ulysses mission accomplished a lot

[e9th]

Here is a short summary of its results. I especially like this one:

Ulysses collected rare samples of interstellar helium isotopes, supplying evidence to support the idea that the Universe will expand forever because insufficient matter was created in the Big Bang to halt its outward march.

Re:Ulysses

[Tablizer]

Maybe it was a mistake naming a probe something that resembles "Useless".

Re:Ulysses

[QuoteMstr]

Uncyclopedia has a brilliant summary of Finnegan's Wake:

A Thirty-Fifth Century Chef d'eswerve

runningisthe river past the begorrahbastards that wake o Finnegan (Irish innished thirtyfourthirtytwo), truly a myopic spectacle! Written in pictures or cats, perhaps both - femalines?

Tout ceci et toi avez employé dans le développement de l'ancien n'avez pas pu rester seulement dans les pages du réseau !. Pour (tajenaiiiiiscmm) celui, et dans une certaine mesure le reste de l'organisation de cette information, vous trouverez la plupart des ressources existantes dans le domaine de la gestion et du travail, ou êtes responsable de l'information qu'elles prévoient pour s'employer.

Alas; fine Finnegan's fate, making dry desert and rashy the thorred worlds and parsons thereof, though its poorness caused by poverty - redundadant? - of undry dessert and mmm (the pfilomunscenrtoolffloddoiolcomeyuloasdertenterytoumnckkawqwaweraoopfmrisndiurt!) rashy again and it is all God's feckin' fault. Plumghust. Mufflewhump. Urrrrgh. Adamand A man on the Eve of the running is the -

one last attempt possible?

[hcdejong]

Playing with this Java applet that shows Ulysses' position relative to Earth, Ulysses will be a lot closer to Earth in 2013. It'd be interesting to see if the shorter distance will make up for 3 more years of decay of the RTG.