South Pole Flyby

In a sense, Ulysses is more like Richard E. Byrd than Amundsen or Scott. In November 1929, Byrd flew over Earth's south pole in a Ford Trimotor airplane named the Floyd Bennett. The plane barely gained enough altitude to overfly the high polar plateau, clearing some mountain peaks and glaciers by little more than a few hundred feet. Compasses were useless for direction-finding so close to the magnetic pole, and there were few landmarks in the white expanse below. Nevertheless, he managed to guide the plane straight to latitude 90 S.

Like Byrd, Ulysses is a flier. "Today the spacecraft is gliding 300 million km (2 AU) above the sun's 'Antarctic.' That's a safe distance and a good place to sample the sun's polar winds and magnetic fields."

In the long run, however, Ulysses will follow Scott: "Had we lived I should have had a tale to tell of hardihood, endurance and courage…," Scott wrote shortly before his entire party perished from cold. They reached the pole, famously chasing Amundsen, but never made it home again. Ulysses will never come home either, eventually perishing in the cold of space when its internal power sources fail.

To honor the common heritage of exploration, NASA's Science Mission Directorate dedicates its efforts during the Ulysses' South Pole flyby to Roald Amundsen, Robert F. Scott and Richard E. Byrd.

Amundsen, Scott, Byrd, and now Ulysses. Says Posner, "their stories will inspire generations to come."

For more information:

NASA - Cold Peril: The Continuing Adventures of Ulysses
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/17mar_ulysses.htm

ECA - Ulysses
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=11

International Heliophysical Year 2007
http://ihy2007.org/