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Dawn Completes Primary Mission


Waspie_Dwarf

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Dawn Completes Primary Mission

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On June 30, just in time for the global celebration known as Asteroid Day, NASA's Dawn spacecraft completes its primary mission. The mission exceeded all expectations originally set for its exploration of protoplanet Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres.

The historic mission is the first to orbit two extraterrestrial solar system targets, and the first to orbit any object in the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. On March 6, 2015, Dawn also became the first spacecraft to enter orbit around a dwarf planet.

arrow3.gif  Read more: NASA

 

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And what an extraordinary achievement it was.

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9 minutes ago, Astra. said:

And what an extraordinary achievement it was.

It's not finished yet. Dawn still has fuel, NASA is currently debating whether Dawn should spend another year in orbit around Ceres or leave and make a fly-by of another asteroid.

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It has shown that Ceres and Vesta are different kinds of bodies (one dry and one that is one quarter water ice) so it would be great if it could visit another KBO and get a third example for comparison. 

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25 minutes ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

It's not finished yet. Dawn still has fuel, NASA is currently debating whether Dawn should spend another year in orbit around Ceres or leave and make a fly-by of another asteroid.

Well it will be interesting to see what NASA chooses to do - now that Dawn has just about finished her successful primary mission.

As long as NASA already has enough data of Ceres - and they can extend the mission longer - and if they already have their sights set on another potential asteroid to explore / collect data. Then all the better.

 

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Looks like Dawn will stay at Cere so it can monitor what happens when Ceres reaches perihelion.

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8 hours ago, Merc14 said:

Looks like Dawn will stay at Cere so it can monitor what happens when Ceres reaches perihelion.

So they will be continuing Dawn's orbit around Ceres for the duration of Dawn's life-span ?

Excuse my ignorance....but may I ask you why they need to monitor Ceres as it reaches perihelion ?

I thought NASA had already accumulated enough data analysis from this wonderful and mysterious little world.

 

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1 hour ago, Astra. said:

So they will be continuing Dawn's orbit around Ceres for the duration of Dawn's life-span ?

Yes.

1 hour ago, Astra. said:

Excuse my ignorance....but may I ask you why they need to monitor Ceres as it reaches perihelion ?

As Ceres approaches perihelion it will become warmer. It is possible that this will lead to some sort of activity on the surface, such as out gassing. 

1 hour ago, Astra. said:

I thought NASA had already accumulated enough data analysis from this wonderful and mysterious little world.

The very fact that you refer to Ceres as "mysterious" would rather suggest that NASA has anything but enough data.

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10 minutes ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

Yes.

As Ceres approaches perihelion it will become warmer. It is possible that this will lead to some sort of activity on the surface, such as out gassing. 

The very fact that you refer to Ceres as "mysterious" would rather suggest that NASA has anything but enough data.

Thank you Waspie - the reason I asked - was because you had previously mentioned that there was still debate going on as to whether or not NASA would continue to leave Dawn in orbit around Ceres - or leave and send her to fly-by / explore another asteroid.

So I then naturally assumed Merc must have followed up concerning this - hence his comment. I also could not find a link to confirm this.

Also...point taken - you are right in regards to my chosen word of 'mysterious'..... ~slaps wrist~ :rolleyes:

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7 hours ago, Astra. said:

Thank you Waspie - the reason I asked - was because you had previously mentioned that there was still debate going on as to whether or not NASA would continue to leave Dawn in orbit around Ceres - or leave and send her to fly-by / explore another asteroid.

So I then naturally assumed Merc must have followed up concerning this - hence his comment. I also could not find a link to confirm this.

Also...point taken - you are right in regards to my chosen word of 'mysterious'..... ~slaps wrist~ :rolleyes:

The link was in Waspie's earlier post about New Horizons and included several decisions the board made including about Dawn   http://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-receives-mission-extension-to-kuiper-belt-dawn-to-remain-at-ceres

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11 minutes ago, Merc14 said:

The link was in Waspie's earlier post about New Horizons and included several decisions the board made including about Dawn   http://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-receives-mission-extension-to-kuiper-belt-dawn-to-remain-at-ceres

Cheers for that - as I had no idea  :tu: 

Actually I was just about to post this....how's that for timing ?

UPDATE: In a new release put out today, NASA announced that it had ultimately decided against plans to send the Dawn spacecraft to visit an additional asteroid. Apparently whoever posted yesterday's Dawn journal was not informed of this decision. "The long-term monitoring of Ceres, particularly as it gets closer to perihelion—the part of its orbit with the shortest distance to the Sun—has the potential to provide more significant science discoveries than a flyby of Adeona,” said NASA Director of Planetary Science Jim Green.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/07/nasas-dawn-mission-to-leave-ceres-pass-by-yet-another-asteroid/

 

 

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My mistake Astra, i should've had Waspie's link included.  Very glad you are reading though!

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6 hours ago, Merc14 said:

My mistake Astra, i should've had Waspie's link included.

You're forgiven Merc - not your fault smileys-kisses-263256.gif

After all - Waspie is the guru of this section...he could have pointed me in the right direction...rather than being condescending. 

But oh well...that's our Waspie. 

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Very glad you are reading though!

Thank you for your encouragement...you are a smart man....and I enjoy reading and learning from articles / posts that you contribute here.

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