The Ulysses Mission: The Ion Propulsion Alternative

D. G. Fearn. (1996), JBIS, 49, pp.181-192

Refcode: 1996.49.181

Abstract:

After a very protracted development programme, studies for which commenced in 1974, the Ulysses spacecraft finally departed on its unique scientific mission on 6 October 1990, when it was deployed into low Earth orbit (LEO) from the Space Shuttle Discovery (Mission 41). Its mission is to explore the polar regions of the Sun from a solar polar orbit, an objective first proposed in 1959, but never before attempted.