Ulysses, a journey from 1990 to 2008

COMET TAIL

The story of the Ulysses space mission

The hero of the Odysseus, Ulysses, travelled far and wide in classical times, and after many adventures, arrived back to Ithaca, in the blue seas of the Adriatic off mainland Greece

The journey of the hero Ulysses happened perhaps three or more millennia ago. In May this year, a group of scientists gathered in Kefalonia (that probably was the antique Ithaca) to celebrate the coming end of the Ulysses space mission, following an odyssey of a different nature, no less adventurous, around the Sun.  Since its launch in October 1990, the spacecraft Ulysses has travelled more that 8,600,000,000 km (or almost 5,400,000,000 miles), rather more than the intrepid traveller in classic times.

Read the full article on the SPAT website

Other links

ESA
http://helio.estec.esa.int/ulysses/
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=11
NASA
http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov/

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