ULYSSES
- This joint ESA/NASA mission to study the Sun and the region of space
surrounding the Sun was launched in 1990. Ulysses is the first spacecraft
to travel over the polar regions of the Sun, well outside the plane in
which the planets orbit the Sun. After becoming the fastest spacecraft
ever, it used Jupiter's gravitational pull to swing into and orbit over the
poles of the Sun. In 1994 it made many fascinating discoveries as it
travelled under the Sun's south pole. After travelling over the north pole
in 1995 it will make its long journey back to Jupiter's orbit, returning
to the sun's polar region in the year 2000. By that time the Sun will be at
the maximum of its sunspot activity and Ulysses will observe conditions in
space that are more disturbed.