ULYSSES MISSION
OPERATIONS REPORT No. 984
PERIOD: 30th June 2009
1. MISSION OPERATIONS
The Ulysses mission ended on 30th June 2009 with the following activities (all times are UTC):
Via
the DSN 70m antenna at
181.06:45:00 DSS-43 BOT
181.07:00:00 Switch EPC 1/2 off
181.07:10:00 Switch off PAPS HV (-15/-30 KV)
181.07:11:00 Switch off Deflection Plate Power Supply and GLG experiment heaters
181.07:12:00 Disable MCP Power Supplies
181.07:13:00 Switch off Detector Linear Channels
181.07:20:00 Deschedule LOC Program
181.07:25:00 Time-tagged command to switch off BAM-I HV (to execute at 181.16:15 SCET )
181.07:30:00 Send time-tagged command for last Earth Pointing Manoeuvre
181.08:50:00 DSS-43 EOT
While out of pass:
181.11:20:11 SCET Open-loop slew manoeuvre X201
Spacecraft attitude to be Earth pointing at the mid-point of the next pass.
This was the final slew manoeuvre of the mission and used the same thruster (LA1) that was used for all Earth-pointing manoeuvres throughout the entire mission.
Via the DSN 70m antenna at
181.15:35:00 DSS-63 BOT
181.15:50:00 Time-tagged command (to execute at 19:00 SCET)
RX 1 on, 64BPS ENG, TX2/RX2 to LGA/R, TX1/RX1 to LGA/F
181.15:55:00 Time-tagged command (to execute at 18:45 SCET)
AOCS
configuration: open
181.16:05:00 Switch off SIM KET HV1 off
181.16:15:00 Switch on the X Wing Heaters
181.16:20:00 Deschedule CONJ (ending fuel bleed manoeuvres)
181.16:25:00 Switch off DSU
181.16:30:00 Update Primary and Backup Tables
181.16:45:00 Monitor final fuel bleed manoeuvre
181.16:48:00 Switch off SIM KET HV2 off
181.17:00:00 Monitor BAM-I HV off
181:17:34:00 Monitor SIM KET HV1 off
181.17:44:00 Monitor X Wing Heaters on
181.17:49:00 Monitor CONJ descheduling
181.17:54:00 Monitor DSU switch off
181.17:59:00 Monitor the updating of PT and BT
181.18:18:00 Monitor SIM KET HV2 off
181.19:30:00 Monitor AOCS configuration changes
181.19:45:00 Monitor RX 1 on
181.19:52:00 64bps, some data collection at 64bps
181.20:08:32 RFDU reconfiguration: Loss of signal
181.20:15:00 Spacecraft S-band transmitter off
181.20:20:00 DSS-63 EOT
The final data format received was at 09.181.19:24:26.751 spacecraft event time.
MANOEUVRES
Fuel bleeding was performed automatically every 2 hours throughout the final day using the onboard CONJ program. A command to deschedule CONJ was transmitted at 181.16:20 UTC and executed on-board the spacecraft at 17:04 UTC.
A final Earth-pointing open-loop slew executed at 181:11:20 spacecraft event time (SCET) to point the high gain antenna towards Earth during the final pass.
2. SPACECRAFT STATUS
|
POWER |
ATT/ORBIT |
TELEMETRY/CMD |
DATA HANDLING |
THERMAL |
|
Nominal |
Nominal |
S-Band
Tx1 |
Nominal DSU1 in use |
Nominal |
|
DATE |
BAM-I |
GLG |
GRU |
HED |
HUS |
KEP |
LAN |
SIM |
STO |
|
30 Jun |
HV Off |
HV Off |
Off |
On |
Off |
Off |
On |
HV Off |
Off |
3. FLIGHT DYNAMICS
|
DATE |
SOLAR ASPECT |
SUN-PROBE-EARTH |
SPIN RATE |
|
29 Jun |
9.40° |
9.26° |
4.938 rpm |
4. ORBITAL DATA
|
DATA
TAKEN AT |
00:00:00 UTC 29 June 2009 |
|
DISTANCE
FROM EARTH |
798,968,261 km |
|
DISTANCE
FROM SUN |
710,122,896 km |
|
VELOCITY
REL. TO EARTH |
137,067 km/hour |
VELOCITY REL. TO SUN |
38,274 km/hour |
|
ECLIPTIC
LATITUDE |
25.59 ° North |
|
HELIOGRAPHIC
LATITUDE |
18.64 ° North |
5. GROUND SEGMENT
The final day's activities were scheduled to begin with a DSS-14 pass. However, the entire track was lost due to antenna problems. An additional pass from DSS-43 was obtained to perform preliminary decommissioning activities before the final DSS-63 track (thanks to the Voyager project for releasing antenna time on short notice).
|
DATE |
GOLDSTONE |
|
|
|
30 Jun |
DSS-14 Unavailable due to antenna problems |
DSS-43 |
DSS-63 |
6. PLANNED OPERATIONS
After more than 18 years of outstanding science return, the Ulysses mission ended on 30 June 2009. No further spacecraft operations are planned. Archiving activities will continue until 30 September.
Last signal from Ulysses via DSS-63:
Thanks to
all those who have helped make Ulysses such a success.
Very best
regards,
Nigel Angold