* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Dawn spacecraft

Blobrana · L

NASA Spacecraft To Enter Large Asteroid's Orbit On July 15

On July 15, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will begin a prolonged encounter with the asteroid Vesta, making the mission the first to enter orbit around a main-belt asteroid.
The main asteroid belt lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Dawn will study Vesta for one year, and observations will help scientists understand the earliest chapter of our solar system's history.
As the spacecraft approaches Vesta, surface details are coming into focus, as seen in a recent image taken from a distance of about 41,000 kilometres.
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Dawn nears Vesta

The Dawn spacecraft had a difficult birth: it was threatened by cost overruns and technical concerns, cancelled, reinstated and scaled down. Now, after a four-year journey spiralling out from Earth's orbit, the probe is set to explore the beginnings of the Solar System. On 16 July, Dawn will enter orbit around Vesta, an asteroid that, at 500 kilometres wide, is the second largest in the Solar System.
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Dawn Team Members Check out Spacecraft

Mission managers for NASA's Dawn spacecraft are studying the spacecraft's ion propulsion system after Dawn experienced a loss of thrust on June 27. Dawn team members were able to trace the episode to an electronic circuit in the spacecraft's digital control and interface unit, a subsystem that houses the circuit and a computer that provides the "brains" to Dawn's ion propulsion system. That circuit appeared to lose an electronic signal. As a result, the valves controlling the flow of xenon fuel did not open properly. Dawn automatically put itself into a more basic configuration known as "safe-communications" mode, where the spacecraft stopped some activities and turned its high-gain antenna to Earth.
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Blobrana · L

NASA's Dawn spacecraft, launched Sept. 27, 2007, will enter a year-long orbit next week around the asteroid and minor planet Vesta.
Hubble images show Vesta as a diverse world with ancient lava flows and a differentiated interior-which means it has crust, mantle and core layers-calling into question the generalization that asteroids are dry, cold, dead pieces of rock.
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Asteroid protoplanet may hold clues to Earth formation

Never have old leftovers made so many scientists salivate. After a four year journey, NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned the first close-up views of the giant asteroid Vesta, a relic of planet-building that could hold clues to how Earth formed.
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Blobrana · L

Now more than halfway through its approach to Vesta, Dawn continues creeping up on the destination it has been pursuing since it began its interplanetary travels. The separation between them gradually shrinks as the probe's ion thrusting brings its orbit around the sun into a closer and closer match with Vesta's. At the same time, the giant protoplanet's gravity tugs gently on the approaching ship, luring it into orbit.
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Blobrana · L

Dawn Nears Start of Year-Long Stay at Giant Asteroid

NASA's Dawn spacecraft is on track to begin the first extended visit to a large asteroid. The mission expects to go into orbit around Vesta on July 16 and begin gathering science data in early August. Vesta resides in the main asteroid belt and is thought to be the source of a large number of meteorites that fall to Earth.
After travelling nearly four years and 2.7 billion kilometers, Dawn is approximately 155,000 kilometers away from Vesta. When Vesta captures Dawn into its orbit on July 16, there will be approximately 16,000 kilometers between them. When orbit is achieved, they will be approximately 188 million kilometers away from Earth.
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Blobrana · L

Image of Vesta taken on June 14th, 2011

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on June 14, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 265,000 kilometres away from the protoplanet Vesta. Each pixel size is roughly 25 kilometres.

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Blobrana · L

NASA's Dawn spacecraft approaches protoplanet Vesta

NASA's Dawn mission to the doughnut-shaped asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which launched in September 2007, is now approaching Vesta, a protoplanet that is currently some 143 million miles from Earth. Many surprises are likely awaiting the spacecraft.
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