The Ulysses Mission: In-ecliptic phase

Abstract

The Ulysses mission is unique in the history of the exploration of our solar system by spacecraft. The path followed by Ulysses will enable us, for the first time, to explore the heliosphere within a few astronomical units of the Sun over the full range of heliographic latitudes. The mission, a collaboration between ESA and NASA, was launched on 6 October 1990 and employed a Jupiter gravity-assist in February 1992 to achieve the out-of-ecliptic trajectory extending to high solar latitudes (Smith et al. 1991).