NASA Kills Ulysses Spacecraft After 18 Years Of Studying The Sun

@The5thElephant: Reminds me of a comforting euphemism for when you dog dies; you say it "went off to college." Our little (volkswagon size?) Ulysses is going off to college. Maybe it'll room with the aliens that keep messing up our Mars probes.

anderlan

@TendoMentis: well, it does have smiley face. :)

Isn't this the same satellite that's supposed to be watching 2012? Damn you NASA. We won't even see it coming! Can't wait for the movie.

addiktion

Why even bother turning off, Im sure some Amateur sun watchers would love to use this. Collage students could run it! The point being, its already out there, and still operational, what is the harm in using it as a learning tool to keep people interested in science!

YardanKabolla

Probes get "shut off" not because they're broken, but because of funding for monitoring/controlling staff. Each of these probes requires a team of programmers, engineers and controllers to run the probe that's gathering data for a team of scientists.

So what's more likely is that the budget for Ulysses controlling staff got cut because somebody in the Program Office talked to the scientists using it and the scientists said "Yeah, we're probably not going to learn all that much more from this probe. We'd rather put the money to something more interesting".

jetdillo

Are they gonna blow it up?!

@pmathews: Nothing to do with budget cuts, mostly because as the years go by the amount of man power and money spent on Ulysses was probably easily less then a new solar probe. So they would be keeping it going if it wasn't crapping out so to speak. ^.^

bbfreak

@Darwinist: lol...who doesn't?

oxymoron2007

@The5thElephant: Haha nice

They also often stop supporting it because it has done it's job. Like the other mars rover that didn't die... they had to continue to use it for a while even though it did what it was designed to do. They are built with certain test equipment and you can only pick at so many rocks.

awdark

@mr.dada: One of the best ever. Sunshine of Your Love wouldn't be the same without him.

@angelzero: While I am all about practicality, "useful" may be subjective here. Little Ulysses may go on to be an Ambassador for Earth, or maybe just space junk. While we may not be able to collect data from him now, who knows what the future holds. Some day, somewhere, he may turn up on Antiques Roadshow - the Mars Edition, and I bet he brings a pretty penny (or many bars of latinum) then!

@Olafs Bura: 10 KW diesel generator strapped to the backside.

I guess this means the "Oddessey" is over?

@psychiccheese: In space, no one can hear you scream.

@dsh: It's 18 years old. It has to be responsible for itself now.

The5thElephant

ah, Tales of Brave Ulysses, one of the first songs to put the wah-wah effect on guitar.

@TendoMentis: *reaches for the tear under his eye, tells who's besides him he got something in the eye* To teh infinit and beyond little space probe!

Great music.

thelastnamehere

Hey, props for using a Cream song over Set the Controls For The Heart Of The Sun which would seem like a much nerd-pleasing song/sun reference.

@Curves:
+1 highlander quote

I love CREAM.

Wow, nice quote at the opening Jesus goin' for a Pulitzer

WrecklessRich

@TendoMentis: Be honest. You just wanted to say anthropomorphizing.

Darwinist

@Die Fledermaus: Ginger Baker. A great drummer!

mr.dada

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!

cheezitman2001

@Amir Oulad: they've just gotten really good at shouting over long distances.

psychiccheese

Ah, Eric Clapton on acid. Such poetry...

bilups

Maybe it can meet up with Veager in some distant future and have a beer.

@Curves: a powerless quest where it doesn't record nor transmit anything wouldn't exactly be useful whatsoever.

angelzero

@Olafs Bura: is reading painful for you? Or is it clicking on articles that is causing the problem?

angelzero

What is with the drummer did he have one to many laced sugar cubes? Or is he just way to much a Green Fairy fan?

@dsh: It's plutonium power source is running out and its fuel is freezing as its orbit gets farther and farther from the sun.

Craig Swenson

Here's a better one:

+ Watch video

or.. even better:

+ Watch video

Andrés Felipe Barros

@Olafs Bura: It was nuclear powered. The plutonium power source isn't producing efficiently anymore and the fuel is slowly freezing as it gets farther and farther from the sun.

Craig Swenson

While it is said that "Its better to burn out than fade away", I dont agree, and hope it goes on a quest of deep space. Godspeed little Ulysses....

Crash it into the sun, let it go out in flames of glory!

zeroprime

I don't really understand one thing how the hell have they powered it up for 18 years ? some very good batteries ? Sun cells ? Petrol ? How ?

Olafs Bura

@ranwanimator: ewwwwwww!

He's even got a shocked face at being turned off in the picture. :o

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe people are tired reading data in DOS? or need to get that TRS80 out of the office and replace it with equipment for the next troop of satellites running Windows 7?

Magic Beans? Sure, I'll Buy Some!!

@Barry99705: Probably need the money for another bailout.

It's a shame, may you rest in peace and keep exploring the vast boundaries of our universe. (weeps)

Still can't understand how NASA can communicate with her probes over such a enormous distance, really amazing

Amir Oulad

@pmathews: And also reallocating time on the radio telescope that was dedicated to listening to Ulysses. That's also a limited resource.

jdale

@ranwanimator: In space, no one can hear you steam.

Kaiser-Machead

@dsh: Most likely budget cuts.

@dsh:

Probably because they are re-allocating the budget that was used on this project. They can use that team for another project now. I think something similar almost happened to the first mars rover.

@dsh: if you read some stuff @ the NASA site, you'll see that it's basically dead already anyway.

angelzero

@dsh: Nothing you can't learn just by staring at it.

Skeetz

is that a Cleveland steamer?

ranwanimator

@TendoMentis: It's not anthropomorphizing at all. Many of our ittle wittle space probes get just as weepy thinking about you and everyone else on Earth they miss sooooooooo much. :(

Why turn it off? Does it not work any more? Is there nothing left to learn about the sun?

Good song!

Xeno

planet earth is blue and there's nothing i can do

John Eaton

@TendoMentis: I agree. Sweet little space probe, we barely knew you.

jduke882

god...I know I'm anthropomorphizing, but I get all weepy when I think about how heroic all our little space probes are.

Goodnight sweet prince

nukee