After more than 18 years studying the Sun, the plug is finally being pulled on the ailing spacecraft Ulysses.
Final communication with the joint European-US satellite will take place on 30 June.
The long-serving craft, launched in October 1990, has already served four times its expected design life.
The Esa-Nasa mission was the first to survey the environment in space above and below the poles of the Sun.
Data from the craft, published last year, also suggested that the solar wind - the stream of charged particles billowing away from the Sun - is at its weakest for 50 years.
***
more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8121625.stm
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
