Dawn (spacecraft)
Dawn is an unmanned NASA space probe. It has orbited and studied the asteroid Vesta, and it is currently orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres. Both Vesta and Ceres are in the asteroid belt. Dawn is the first spacecraft to visit Ceres and the first to visit Vesta.[4] It also is the first spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial bodies.[4]
 Illustration of the Dawn spacecraft | |||||||||
| Mission type | Multi-target orbiter | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / JPL | ||||||||
| COSPAR ID | 2007-043A | ||||||||
| SATCAT no. | 32249 | ||||||||
| Website | http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/ | ||||||||
| Mission duration | Planned: 9 years Final: 11 years, 1 month, 5 days | ||||||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||||||
| Manufacturer | Orbital Sciences · JPL · UCLA | ||||||||
| Launch mass | 1,217.7 kg (2,684.6 lb)[1] | ||||||||
| Dry mass | 747.1 kg (1,647.1 lb)[1] | ||||||||
| Dimensions | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1850: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value).[1] | ||||||||
| Power | 10,000 watts at 1 AU[1] 1,300 watts at 3 AU | ||||||||
| Start of mission | |||||||||
| Launch date | September 27, 2007, 11:34 UTC[2] | ||||||||
| Rocket | Delta II 7925H | ||||||||
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral SLC-17B | ||||||||
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance | ||||||||
| End of mission | |||||||||
| Disposal | Uncontrolled/stable orbit | ||||||||
| Last contact | 30 October 2018 | ||||||||
| Flyby of Mars | |||||||||
| Closest approach | February 18, 2009, 00:27:58 UTC[2] | ||||||||
| Distance | 542 km (337 mi)[2] | ||||||||
| 4 Vesta orbiter | |||||||||
| Orbital insertion | July 16, 2011, 04:47 UTC[3] | ||||||||
| Orbital departure | September 5, 2012, 06:26 UTC[2] | ||||||||
| 1 Ceres orbiter | |||||||||
| Orbital insertion | March 6, 2015, 12:29 UTC[2] | ||||||||
| |||||||||
 Dawn mission patch | |||||||||
Dawn was launched on September 27, 2007[5][6][7] at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a Delta 7925-H rocket.[6][7] It then travelled to Mars for a gravity assist, making its closest approach to Mars in February 2009.[5]
Next, Dawn set off for Vesta.[5] It went into orbit in July, 2011.[5] On September 5, 2012, Dawn left Vesta and headed for Ceres.[4] It began to orbit Ceres on March 6, 2015.[4][8]
Dawn (spacecraft) Media
SERT-1: first ion engine NASA spacecraft; launched on July 20, 1964.
Scale comparison of Vesta, Ceres, and the Moon
Dawn image of Ceres from 13,600 km, May 4, 2015
Dawn's approximate flight trajectory
Framing camera view of the Ceres bright spots
Dawn prior to encapsulation at its launch pad on July 1, 2007
Dawn launching on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17 on September 27, 2007
Greyscale NIR image of Mars (northwest Tempe Terra), taken by Dawn during its 2009 flyby
PIA20182-Ceres-360Video-20151208
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Dawn at Ceres" (PDF) (Press kit). NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory. March 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Dawn". National Space Science Data Center. NASA. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
- ↑ Brown, Dwayne C.; Vega, Priscilla (August 1, 2011). NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Begins Science Orbits of Vesta. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn20110801.html. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Dawn at Ceres" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Schilling, Govert (July 2011), "Solar System sleuth", BBC Sky at Night Magazine, no. 74, pp. 38–43
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Dawn Launch". NASA. Archived from the original on 2017-06-24. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Week in Photos: Dawn Lifts Off, Pike Poisoned, More". National Geographic. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
- ↑ "NASA Spacecraft Becomes First to Orbit a Dwarf Planet". NASA. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
Other websites
- "Dawn Mission Overview". NASA. Archived from the original on 2011-10-16. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
- "Video: NASA Asteroid Probe Launched" (Video). National Geographic. Retrieved 2011-08-16.