6 October 2005

As well as being an important scientific mission in its own right, Ulysses is also a key member of the fleet of spacecraft collectively referred to ‘The Sun-Solar System Connections Great Observatory’.

This fleet also includes ESA's SOHO and Cluster satellites, and NASA’s ACE, Wind and Voyager spacecraft.

The twin STEREO probes and Japan’s Solar-B satellite will soon join this impressive fleet, to form an unprecedented tool to study the Sun and heliosphere as an integrated system.

Campaigns using the Great Observatory, together with ground-based facilities, are being planned in the framework of the upcoming International Heliophysical Year (IHY) in 2007.

For more information:

Richard Marsden, ESA Ulysses Project Scientist
E-mail: richard.marsden @ esa.int

Ulysses findings and science are being discussed in October 2005 at the 54th Ulysses Science Working Team meeting taking place in Pasadena, USA.