The Ulysses spacecraft, which orbits around the Sun, is on the verge of freezing to death. The 17-year-old spacecraft’s demise has been hastened by a glitch preventing power from keeping its fuel from freezing.
The 17-year-old spacecraft’s demise has been hastened by a glitch preventing power from keeping its fuel from freezing.
Ulysses launched in October 1990, then swung by Jupiter in 1992, using the planet’s powerful gravity to change its orbit into one that passes over the north and south poles of the Sun – the first spacecraft ever to do so.