Date: Sat, 20 Mar 93 05:00:10 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V16 #341 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Sat, 20 Mar 93 Volume 16 : Issue 341 Today's Topics: ALTERNATIVE Comet Rendezvous Mission Aurora spotted ? CD for Pluto Mission Galileo Update - 03/19/93 Just a little tap (was Re: Galileo HGA) Lunar ice transport plans, and absence thereof Predicting gravity wave quantization & Cosmic Noise (2 msgs) Road & Track road tests 1996 JPL Rocky IV Microrover Small Expendable Deployer System Launch Advisory (was Re: Launch Windows SR-71 Maiden Science Flight (3 msgs) Student paper on comets Threat of mass cancellings was Re: Anonymity is NOT the issue (2 msgs) Water Simulations (Was Re: Response to various attacks on SSF) Why use AC at 20kHz for SSF Power? Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form "Subscribe Space " to one of these addresses: listserv@uga (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle (THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1993 10:30:21 GMT From: Dan Tilque Subject: ALTERNATIVE Comet Rendezvous Mission Newsgroups: talk.politics.space,sci.space,alt.sci.planetary,sci.astro mcelwre@cnsvax.uwec.edu writes: > > ALTERNATIVE Comet Rendezvous Mission Super low-cost (so low it would even satisfy William Proxmire) Alternative Comet Rendezvous Mission: Wait for a comet to rendezvous with us. And then there's the super low-cost Pluto flyby... --- Dan Tilque -- dant@techbook.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Mar 93 16:12:09 MET From: PHARABOD@FRCPN11.IN2P3.FR Subject: Aurora spotted ? Lawrence Curcio writes (Wed, 17 Mar 1993 15:52:29 -0500): >How do you know this isn't an ordinary extraterrestrial UFO ? > >-Larry > >P.S...... :) Because, up to the present time, extraterrestrial UFOs are extraordinary. This is what the philosophers call "Occam's razor". I am not very fond of philosophy, and don't understand much in it (but is there much to understand ?). However, this Occam's razor principle sounds good. If I understand correctly, its application can be summarized as follows: when there are an ordinary and an extraordinary explanation for the same phenomenon, always choose the ordinary one... J. Pharabod ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 93 12:51:00 GMT From: FRANK NEY Subject: CD for Pluto Mission Newsgroups: sci.space Unless I had a news.hallucination, someone on the group mentioned that there was a 300g allocation for some sort of commemorative device. This would fall within the range of a CD-ROM. -- The Next Challenge - Public Access Unix in Northern Va. - Washington D.C. 703-803-0391 To log in for trial and account info. ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 1993 16:47 UT From: Ron Baalke Subject: Galileo Update - 03/19/93 Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary Forwarded from Neal Ausman, Galileo Mission Director GALILEO MISSION DIRECTOR STATUS REPORT POST-LAUNCH March 12 -18, 1993 SPACECRAFT 1. On March 12, as part of the 10 rpm spinup activities, real-time commands were sent to open the Star Scanner shutter and collect attitude and wobble data before transitioning to low spin. Commands were then sent to update the attitude control subsystem parameters to the low spin values. The spacecraft, under stored sequence control, initiated the spin down at approximately 2123 UTC and completed at 2149 UTC for a duration of 26 minutes. After the spin down to 2.84 RPM, real-time commands were sent to enable spin corrects and reduce the spin rate deadband, complete the attitude control subsystem parameter updates, perform a wobble compensation, and return to cruise mode (dual-spin at 3.15 RPM). During the spin down, the minus S1A thruster temperature exhibited an unusual profile. Specifically, approximately six minutes after the spin-down began, the minus S1A thruster increased in temperature by 25 degrees C (171.8 degrees C) over approximately three minutes and then stabilized and subsequently decreased slightly prior to soakback. The temperatures, however, were well within the safe operating range of the thrusters. 2. On March 13, the High Gain Antenna (HGA) calibration mini-sequence was transmitted to the spacecraft without incident. This mini-sequence covered spacecraft activities on March 14, 1993. 3. On March 14, the HGA uplink RF (Radio Frequency) test activities were performed on the spacecraft. An X-band uplink signal was transmitted to the spacecraft with the X-band to S-band Down Converter subsystem (XSDC) turned on. As the spacecraft turned from 5 to 17 degrees off the Earth, uplink S-band AGC (Automatic Gain Control) data was collected to determine the presence of any antenna gain pattern. Analysis of the RF data is in process. 4. On March 15, a NO-OP command was sent to reset the command loss timer to 240 hours, its planned value during this mission phase. 5. The AC/DC bus imbalance measurements have not exhibited significant change (greater than 25 DN) throughout this period. The AC measurement reads 20 DN (4.5 volts). The DC measurement reads 144 DN (16.9 volts). These measurements are consistent with the model developed by the AC/DC special anomaly team. 6. The Spacecraft status as of March 18, 1993, is as follows: a) System Power Margin - 70 watts b) Spin Configuration - Dual-Spin c) Spin Rate/Sensor - 3.15rpm/Star Scanner d) Spacecraft Attitude is approximately 7 degrees off-sun (lagging) and 8 degrees off-earth (lagging) e) Downlink telemetry rate/antenna- 40bps(uncoded)/LGA-1 f) General Thermal Control - all temperatures within acceptable range g) RPM Tank Pressures - all within acceptable range h) Orbiter Science- Instruments powered on are the PWS, EUV, UVS, EPD, MAG, HIC, and DDS i) Probe/RRH - powered off, temperatures within acceptable range j) CMD Loss Timer Setting - 240 hours Time To Initiation - 162 hours GDS (Ground Data Systems): 1. The March System Engineers Monthly Report (SEMR) review was conducted Thursday, March 11. A review of current Project and Institutional (DSN and MOSO) system status was conducted. Near-term delivery schedules, past months accomplishments and potential problem areas were discussed. No significant schedule changes or significant problems were reported. TRAJECTORY As of noon Thursday, March 18, 1993, the Galileo Spacecraft trajectory status was as follows: Distance from Earth 94,267,000 km (0.63 AU) Distance from Sun 239,247,000 km (1.60 AU) Heliocentric Speed 103,500 km per hour Distance from Jupiter 594,763,900 km Round Trip Light Time 10 minutes, 32 seconds SPECIAL TOPIC 1. As of March 18, 1993, a total of 67634 real-time commands have been transmitted to Galileo since Launch. Of these, 62528 were initiated in the sequence design process and 5106 initiated in the real-time command process. In the past week, 54 real time commands were transmitted: 54 were initiated in the sequence design process and none initiated in the real time command process. Major command activities included commands to open the star scanner, collect attitude and wobble data, update attitude control subsystem parameters, enable spin corrects and reduce the spin rate deadband, perform a wobble compensation, uplink the HGA RF test mini-sequence and reset the command loss timer. ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Don't ever take a fence /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | down until you know the |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | reason it was put up. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1993 16:11:32 GMT From: Nick Haines Subject: Just a little tap (was Re: Galileo HGA) Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1ob258INNnce@access.digex.com> prb@access.digex.com (Pat) writes: Besides, if the HGA opened, and the probes went off course, it would be a wash. the orbiter would get most of the imaging data, but the probe mission may get lost. kinda a trade off. Lousy deal, but no worse then the deal we got now. `the deal we got now' is a fine one. We're going to get 70% of the mission objectives. Most of the real science on Galileo will go ahead. Most of what we'll miss will be pretty pictures (which we'll still get enough of to keep the TV people happy). I fail to understand why people are so _desperate_ to get the HGA open. Certainly it's insane to suggest jeopardizing the mission merely in order to get a few more pictures (e.g. the recent suggestion of an aerobrake manouevre at Jupiter to stress the HGA). Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 93 16:08:48 GMT From: Russ Brown Subject: Lunar ice transport Newsgroups: sci.space In article henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1993Mar17.081302.8268@sol.UVic.CA> rborden@uglx.UVic.CA (Ross Borden) writes: >>be buried in the regolith (an excellent insulator). Does anyone know >>what the mean temperature of regolith is at, say, 2 meters ? > >We only have a few data points, but they're all within a degree or two >of 255K. The variation is from site to site -- the temperature at any >particular site is absolutely constant at that depth. Usenet works! Keihm and Langseth reported (1973 Apollo 17 data) a mean temperature of 256K at 1.3 metres; little variation would be expected at that depth in the regolith. At the surface, the temperature varied from 102K to 384K during the lunar day. ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 1993 12:03:23 -0500 From: Pat Subject: plans, and absence thereof Newsgroups: sci.space,alt.sci.planetary In article JPL A) Has their plate pretty full doing existing missions. | |Quite the opposite, they are laying people off and rapidly |revamping their strategies in search of new missions. It's |a time of flux at JPL, a time for it to incorporate new |strategies and visions to take advantage of the new technology |and knowledge we have going into the 21st century. | If JPL had more money, they'd be working the missions that are already on their punchlist. CRAF. Magellan cycle 5, Ongoing voyager, mariner data analysis. MO, Lunar Observer. I know I've banged JPL hard for spending too much money to achieve goals, but I think that's an administrative problem. They only have n scientists and designers, and they already have beaucoup things to do. NEAR is approved, MESUR looks go. I really doubt they can divide resources much farther. |> B) is oriented to certain mission types, and prospecting |> is a little out of their balliwick.. | |JPL, Caltech, and universties that work closely with it such |as U. of Arizona, are chuck full of planetary scientist/geologists. |There are dozens of quite talented planetary geologists who work |in the oil and mining industries. JPL and the planetary science [szabo deleted on Prospecting, plasma science...] Wouldn't the lunar and Planetary science institute at JSC be a better site for this stuff. They already have all the Data on the planets. And texans know all about drilling for oil. Besides they have been looking for a mission since apollo ended. And witht he senate seat for Texas up for grabs, Clinton needs political help there. | |>get basic operating costs in space down by 2 orders of magnitude. |>Then the market will do the rest. | |But right now planetary science is operating without any feedback |from markets, real or potential. That's why we haven't flown |a lunar orbiter -- there's not much basic science for it to do, |but it is one of the top-priority projects from a future-market |prospecting point of view. Planetary science and the associated |native materials processing plays a central role in dropping costs |by orders of magnitude, leapfrogging the very slow trend in |launch cost reduction since the 1960's by opening up sources of |industrial supply off earth. Nick, no matter abou;Processing basic industrial stocks in orbit, the Hardware has to fly up, and that still costs way to much. All the ideas you talk about have their place, in time, but until we can get Boxes up there cheap, get techs up there cheap and reliably, it doesn't matter if king midas's moon is just on the dark side of tycho. pat ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 93 11:42:37 GMT From: wedemeier@vxdsya.desy.de Subject: Predicting gravity wave quantization & Cosmic Noise Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,sci.physics,alt.sci.planetary In article <1993Mar18.150800.29635@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, tes@motif.jsc.nasa.gov. (Thomas E. Smith) writes: > same time (I forget if gravity travels the speed of light, or is instantly > propagated) Instantly propagated????? - Are you nuts? :-) Then we wouldn't get waves and that would screw up the relativity theory! Volker ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Mar 93 13:07:44 GMT From: Greg Stewart-Nicholls Subject: Predicting gravity wave quantization & Cosmic Noise Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,sci.physics,alt.sci.planetary In <1993Mar19.114237.1@vxdesy.desy.de> wedemeier@vxdesy.desy.de writes: >In article <1993Mar18.150800.29635@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, tes@motif.jsc.nasa.gov. (Thomas E. Smith) writes: >> same time (I forget if gravity travels the speed of light, or is instantly >> propagated) > >Instantly propagated????? - Are you nuts? :-) >Then we wouldn't get waves and that would screw up the relativity theory! > >Volker > Wouldn't a gravity wave distort space, and affect the instrumentation to exactly the same degree as the object being measured ??? ----------------------------------------------------------------- ** Of course I don't speak for IBM ** Greg Nicholls ... nicho@vnet.ibm.com (business) or nicho@olympus.demon.co.uk (private) ------------------------------ Date: 18 Mar 93 22:35:54 GMT From: Ken Kiesow Subject: Road & Track road tests 1996 JPL Rocky IV Microrover Newsgroups: sci.space Does anyone remember the comparison betw. the Concorde and the QE2? That one was quite humorous as well... Ken Kiesow kenk@microsoft.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1993 16:45:09 GMT From: Nick Haines Subject: Small Expendable Deployer System Launch Advisory (was Re: Launch Windows Newsgroups: sci.space So what happened? Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 93 09:20:21 GMT From: Jostein Lodve Trones Subject: SR-71 Maiden Science Flight Newsgroups: sci.space Just a small simple question (sorry if I missed this earlier..) When was the first SR-71 flight? (not first science flight, but *first*) Thanks! Cheers, Jostein ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Mar 93 10:26:02 GMT From: Dean Adams Subject: SR-71 Maiden Science Flight Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1993Mar19.092021.5585@dxcern.cern.ch> trones@dxcern.cern.ch (Jostein Lodve Trones) writes: > >Just a small simple question (sorry if I missed this earlier..) > >When was the first SR-71 flight? (not first science flight, but *first*) You mean the first flight EVER? The very first would have been the A-12, on April 26, 1962. The first actual SR-71 few on December 22, 1964... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1993 17:56:55 GMT From: Rob Healey Subject: SR-71 Maiden Science Flight Newsgroups: sci.space In article , neff@iaiowa.physics.uiowa.edu (John S. Neff) writes: |> Please explain the advantage of the SR-71 over a ballon for UV |> spectrophotometry. The maximum altitude of the SR-71 listed in a previous |> post was about the same, or a little lower, than the normal altitude of |> a ballon flight. The SR-71 can take measurements across a wider area at that height, it can also take measurments in day, night and terminator between day/night all in 1 flight, i.e. within a short period of time. This wide sample space may provide useful information beyond what a balloon's sample space would be. -Rob ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 93 13:08:32 GMT From: Joe Cain Subject: Student paper on comets Newsgroups: sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary,sci.space A non-science student is doing a project report on comets for her planetary geology class. I am supplying some references but wanted to ask if anyone has handy the latest proposal for a replacement for CRAF. Also, what is the latest on the Kuiper belt idea? (Tanks to the net also for the input from several to the student writing up the "hazards from space" report. The new material will keep him busy all next week.) Joseph Cain cain@geomag.gly.fsu.edu cain@fsu.bitnet scri::cain (904) 644-4014 FAX (904) 644-4214 or -0098 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1993 09:14:21 GMT From: Darin Wayrynen Subject: Threat of mass cancellings was Re: Anonymity is NOT the issue Newsgroups: news.admin.policy,news.admin,comp.org.eff.talk,sci.space,alt.privacy In article joe@jshark.inet-uk.co.uk (Joe Sharkey) writes: >In article keng@den.mmc.com (Ken Garrido) writes: >> >>Now I'm not a news wizard, but can't you generate a file which *automatically* >>screens the messages which are presented to you ? >... >>Why don't we _just_ _not_ _listen_ to anonymous posts ? > >Maybe because some of pay real money out of our own pay check( (sic) for news? > >Much better if this stuff didn't exist: who pay good money for something that's >just going in the bit-bucket? > >>Ken Garrido keng@tunfaire.den.mmc.com Martin Marietta Aerospace > See! ---->^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > >joe. Here's something to think about Joe. We all hide behind an electronic wall here. You're name might not even be Joe Sharkey. Mine might not be Darin Wayrynen. For you to say that someone's post is worthless because they hide behind a name that states that they are remaining anonymous is sort of silly. Do you think that because your name isn't synonymous with anonymous that means it carries more weight? >-- >Joe Sharkey joe@jshark.inet-uk.co.uk ...!uunet!ibmpcug!jshark!joe >150 Hatfield Rd, St Albans, Herts AL1 4JA, UK Got a real domain name >(+44) 727 838662 Mail/News Feeds (v32/v32bis): info@inet-uk.co.uk -- ========================================================================== Darin Wayrynen UUCP: uunet!uupsi4!infogrf!darin Paragon Consulting Group INTERNET: darin@infograph.com PHONE: 602-437-9566 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1993 10:06:25 GMT From: Darin Wayrynen Subject: Threat of mass cancellings was Re: Anonymity is NOT the issue Newsgroups: news.admin,comp.org.eff.talk,sci.space,alt.privacy,news.admin.policy In article <3D9c1B1w165w@dithots.blackwlf.mese.com> gwp@dithots.blackwlf.mese.com writes: >"William C. Hulley" writes: > >> >> we can assume that three things will happen if rick enacts his >> delightfully sensitive censorship scheme: >> >> - his site will be cut off from the rest of the net, >> >> - another anonymous site with a different naming scheme will be started >> within hours, >> >> - someone will try to post anonymously and when that post is >> "moderatedly moderated" he or she will contact the EFF and the ACLU >> and begin, probably through the courts, an action to protect our >> first amendment rights. >> >> gee rick, i dunno, this ARMM thingy doesn't sound like such a good >> idea, maybe you should think about it just a wee bit more before you >> implement it. > > >I think that you are right on this... first, if I posted anon and it suddenly >disappeared then I'd sure start wondering what happened. Let's think now, >the only way rick can stop a post if it his site is the first to receive >it. Otherwise, the anon will get into the group and passed on endlessly. >The only sites that will have this major kludge is his and any he feeds. > If I'm not mistaken, the cancel messages could easily past his system. If he is sent Usenet mail from his feed before his feed feeds others, and he cancels a message (and sends that cancel back to his feed), and his feed honours that cancel, then the message he cancel will be eliminated down wind from his feed. If his feed further moves that cancel along back to its feed, then it's possible it could cancel another branch, and so on and so on. What would happen is that the cancel would go everywhere and cancel the message everywhere where local News Admins did not take pro-active precautions against his cancels. Sure the original anonymous message might be canceled hours/days after it reached a site, but the fact remains, it would still be canceled... By the way, I totally disagree with his tirade. [deletions] >----------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Buy & Sell American When Possible! <-> All Standard Disclaimers Do Apply! > gwp@dithots.blackwlf.mese.com (George W. Pogue (Bill )) >----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ========================================================================== Darin Wayrynen UUCP: uunet!uupsi4!infogrf!darin Paragon Consulting Group INTERNET: darin@infograph.com PHONE: 602-437-9566 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1993 16:37:10 GMT From: Frank Crary Subject: Water Simulations (Was Re: Response to various attacks on SSF) Newsgroups: sci.space In article henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes: >Nobody is saying that the water tanks are valueless. The astronauts >themselves say that the tanks are the best ground-based simulation of >free fall. The point is, the fidelity of most any simulation is limited, >and *we don't know where the limits are*. The Intelsat problem was a >nasty surprise. There are probably more such surprises lurking. Just to toss in the Soviet Union's experience on Salyut 6 and 7 and on Mir: On a few occasions, the Soviets have been unable to train an EVA team on the ground, using water tanks (Either because schedueling problems forced a different, untrained crew to make the EVA, or because some immediate problem required an unplanned repair EVA.) Untrained crews usually take about 50% longer than a trained one to do the same job, but both take longer than the training/simulation would predicet, becuase of unexpected problems, that water tanks don't accurately simulate. Frank Crary CU Boulder ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 93 12:56:30 GMT From: Thomas Clarke Subject: Why use AC at 20kHz for SSF Power? Newsgroups: sci.space In article <18MAR199314255580@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov> dbm0000@tm0006.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Mckissock) writes: Interesting discussion of the advantages of AC over DC and then the advantages of higher frequency AC over lower frequency AC deleted. > This eliminates a > major source of losses in modern power processing equipment, > and typically cuts inverter losses in half, from approximately > 10% to approximately 5%. Since a percent is around 500 W (on > the PMC station), that means a savings on the PMC station of > about $25 million. If we also add total life cycle costs > for the entire mission, that savings can grow to between > $100 million and $150 million, depending on how conservative > your analysis rules are. However, since 20 kHz gear is not commercial off-the-shelf, whereas aircraft-qualified 400 Hz gear is, how much extra would it cost to develop this totally new technology? Would the $25 million savings in PMC (smaller solar array ?) offset the development cost of this entirely new technology? Clearly, life-cycle savings don't count: either Congress or NASA bureaucracy (depending on which side of the debate you are) always goes for the lowest up-front cost :-( I suspect that $25 million has been spent on 20 kHz feasiblity already. -- Thomas Clarke Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central FL 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 300, Orlando, FL 32826 (407)658-5030, FAX: (407)658-5059, clarke@acme.ucf.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Mar 93 15:45:53 EST From: MAILRP%ESA.BITNET@vm.gmd.de Paris, 19 Mars 1993 Report du lancement de Spacelab D-2 Le lancement de la navette Columbia, qui devait emporter la deuxieme mission allemande du Spacelab (D-2) ce dimanche 21 mars, a ete reporte de 24 heures pour des raisons d'ordre meteorologique. Delay of the launch of Spacelab D-2 The launch of the Shuttle Columbia scheduled to fly the second german Spacelab mission (D-2) this next Sunday 21 March, has been delayed for 24 hours due to meteorological reasons.  ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Mar 93 16:10:41 EST From: MAILRP%ESA.BITNET@vm.gmd.de Press Release Nr.13-93 Paris, 19 March 1993 Searching for gravity waves in space Three interplanetary spacecraft, ESA's Ulysses and NASA's Mars Observer and Galileo, now quietly heading towards separate destinations (the poles of the Sun, Mars and Jupiter respectively), may soon prove the existence of waves in the universe's gravitational field by bobbing on ripples in space like corks bobbing on ripples in a pond. Such gravity waves have never been directly detected, although their existence was predicted in Einstein's theory of relativity and there is indirect evidence that they exists. The waves are believed to be produced by supernova explosions, collapsing black holes and other events of this kind. Past searches with ground-based equipment and single spacecraft have failed to discover them. This joint ESA/NASA experiment will run from the 21st of March to April the 11th and for the first time three spacecraft will make observations simultaneously, greatly increasing the reliability of any detection. Astrophysicists are hoping to make this major discovery by spending the next few weeks "listening" for passing gravitational waves with the three "borrowed" space probes at the same time in the most sensitive detection system yet assembled to search for very low frequency gravitational waves. "For Ulysses it will be the second chance to search for these rare events. Last March, Ulysses "listened" for a period of about four weeks." said Dr. Richard G. Marsden, Deputy Ulysses Project Scientist at ESA's Research and Technology Centre, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. "Although no gravitational waves were found on that occasion, the experiment set new upper limits to their intensity, thereby excluding a number of possible sources." said Prof. Bruno Bertotti, Principal Investigator of the Ulysses Gravitational Wave Experiment at the University of Pavia, Italy. ESA's Ulysses spaceprobe was launched by Space Shuttle Discovery on October 6, 1990 to become the first probe ever to explore and circumnavigate the poles of the Sun. In February 1992 the spacecraft approached Jupiter and made use of the gravitational pull of the giant planet to "swing" itself out of the ecliptic plane, the imaginary "disc" in which all the planets of the Solar System orbit around the Sun. "Ulysses is now 4,9 astronomical units -735 million km- from the Sun and 20 degrees South of the ecliptic plane on its way to fly over the South polar region of the Sun between May and September next year" said Dr. Peter Wenzel, ESA's Ulysses Project Manager. A year later, in September 1995, Ulysses will have passed over the North pole of the Sun completing its almost 5 year long journey towards the unknown.   ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 341 ------------------------------