NASA's about to lose ANOTHER spacecraft.

Starguard · Feb 23, 2008

Now that the Navy has succeeded in blowing a billion dollar Spy Satallite out of the Skies, NASA has announced that it is about to add ANOTHER space probe to its doomed list

Ulysses solar spacecraft freezing to death

19:59 22 February 2008

NewScientist.com news service

David Shiga

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The Ulysses spacecraft unlocked secrets of the solar wind and flew through the tails of three comets (Illustration: NASA)

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In a twist of cosmic irony, the Ulysses spacecraft, which orbits around the Sun, is on the verge of freezing to death. The 17-year-old spacecraft's demise has been hastened by a glitch preventing power from keeping its fuel from freezing.

Ulysses launched in October 1990, then swung by Jupiter in 1992, using the planet's powerful gravity to change its orbit into one that passes over the north and south poles of the Sun - the first spacecraft ever to do so. The joint NASA and European Space Agency mission has studied a stream of charged particles from the Sun called the solar wind, discovered interstellar dust blowing through the solar system and flown through three comet tails.

The spacecraft is now critically ill, however, because a glitch is preventing power from being rerouted to keep its hydrazine fuel from dropping below its 2° Celsius freezing point. Once the fuel freezes, there will be no way to control the spacecraft.

Mission managers knew the spacecraft's power would drop during its 17 years in space, since it comes from the radioactive decay of plutonium.
But they had hoped to stave off the end by switching off the spacecraft's main radio transmitter, which it uses to communicate with Earth, when it was not needed. This was done in January and was expected to free up more power for the spacecraft's heater.
'Terrific workhorse'

But now the radio transmitter is refusing to turn back on, despite repeated attempts. That means the spacecraft can no longer send large quantities of scientific data back to Earth. More worryingly, however, the problem appears to be preventing any power saved from the instrument's shutdown from being rerouted to the heater. As a result, the spacecraft's fuel is expected to freeze.

The mission team will try to keep the spacecraft running for the next few weeks, according to an ESA news release. "We will squeeze the very last drops of science out of it," says Ulysses mission manager Richard Marsden of ESA.

"Ulysses is a terrific old workhorse," he adds. "It has produced great science and lasted much longer than we ever thought it would. This was going to happen in the next year or two; it has just taken place a little sooner than we hoped."

Ulysses discovered fast-moving gusts of solar wind streaming from holes in the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona.

It measured the effects of a solar outburst slamming into Jupiter's magnetic field, and flew through three comet tails by chance, revealing comet Hyakutake's tail was more than 500 million kilometres long – the longest ever seen. It also discovered interstellar dust blowing through our solar system.
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link:http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13370-ulysses-solar-spacecraft-freezing-to-death.html

oldfella1962 · Feb 23, 2008

17 years? I'd say they got their money's worth and then some.

Dan Leach · Feb 23, 2008

Ulysses, you served us well...

Ramen · Feb 23, 2008

It did its job and then some.

Let's blow it up.

Scott Hamilton Robert E Ron Paul Lee · Feb 23, 2008

This is so sad.

Muad Dib · Feb 23, 2008

alanricouk · Feb 23, 2008

At least you know what your tax money is getting wasted on.

Tuckerfan · Feb 23, 2008

What do you meany buy "another"? NASA isn't in charge of spysats. That's the military or one of the intelligence agencies job.

Sean the Puritan · Feb 23, 2008

alanricouk said: ↑

At least you know what your tax money is getting wasted on.
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"Ulysses is a terrific old workhorse," he adds. "It has produced great science and lasted much longer than we ever thought it would. This was going to happen in the next year or two; it has just taken place a little sooner than we hoped."
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Ryan · Feb 23, 2008

NASA is clearly not in the Constitution and therefore is a waste of money.

BearTM · Feb 24, 2008

Ryan said: ↑

NASA is clearly not in the Constitution and therefore is a waste of money.
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Which is why Obama has promised to cut its budget.

Nova · Feb 24, 2008

Don't worry. Someday it will be back looking for "The Kirk"

Megatron · Feb 24, 2008

I hope that they send up another in its place then. With the tech that we have now as compared to what we did in 1990, we should have a bigger, better, more data-worthy probe up there.

Ulysses, you made us proud!

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NASA's about to lose ANOTHER spacecraft.

Starguard Fresh Meat

oldfella1962 the only real finish line

Dan Leach Climbing Staff Member Moderator

Ramen Banned

Scott Hamilton Robert E Ron Paul Lee Straight Awesome

Muad Dib Probably a Dual Deceased Member

alanricouk Fresh Meat

Tuckerfan BMF

Sean the Puritan Endut! Hoch Hech!

Ryan Killjoy

BearTM Bustin' a move! Deceased Member

Nova livin on the edge of the ledge Writer

Megatron Banned

Log in or Sign up

NASA's about to lose ANOTHER spacecraft.

Starguard Fresh Meat

oldfella1962 the only real finish line

Dan Leach Climbing Staff Member Moderator

Ramen Banned

Scott Hamilton Robert E Ron Paul Lee Straight Awesome

Muad Dib Probably a Dual Deceased Member

alanricouk Fresh Meat

Tuckerfan BMF

Sean the Puritan Endut! Hoch Hech!

Ryan Killjoy

BearTM Bustin' a move! Deceased Member

Nova livin on the edge of the ledge Writer

Megatron Banned

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