Data Related to DAWN Capture Into Vesta OrbitDAWN entered Vesta's orbit by about 12:47 a.m. EDT, July 16, 2011 and Aug. 11, 2011 at 9:13 a.m. PDT (12:13 a.m. EDT) marked the official start of the first science-collecting orbit phase at Vesta, also known as the 'survey orbit.'
Data Related to DAWN Capture Into Vesta Orbit
After the capture of DAWN into Vesta orbit, astronomers are speaking of the arguably oldest extant primordial surface in the solar system as images received reveal a complex surface that seems to have preserved some of the earliest events in Vesta's history, as well as logging the onslaught that Vesta has suffered in the intervening eons. Although orbit capture is complete, the approach phase will continue for about three weeks as the DAWN team will continue a search for possible moons around the asteroid, obtain more images for navigation, observe Vesta's physical properties and obtain calibration data. First ever image of minor planet Vesta on July 9, 2011 and a historical image in the history of planetary exploration, taken from a distance of about 26,000 miles (41,000 km) is showing to astronomers the surface of one of major asteroids in the asteroid belt. Large ancient impact craters, more recent ones, one large mount and a striking view of parallel grooves are revealed as such images will help astronomers to better understand how protoplanets and planets formed in the early solar system
 | First ever picture of minor planet Vesta as seen from 26,000 miles (41,000 km), a historical image showing the surface of a minor planet in the asteroid belt for the first time! The picture as reworked by our site is showing, left, a detailed view as, right a resized picture allows for a better visualization. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | Second best picture of minor planet Vesta taken by the DAWN mission once captured into orbit. The picture as reworked by our site is showing, left, a detailed view as, right a resized picture allows for a better visualization. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
Initial science orbit around Vesta began Aug. 11, 2011 at an altitude of nearly 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers). Vesta turns on its axis once every five hours and 20 minutes. Aug. 11 at 9:13 a.m. PDT (12:13 a.m. EDT) marks the official start of the first science-collecting orbit phase at Vesta, also known as the 'survey orbit.' Survey orbit is the initial and highest orbit, at roughly 1700 miles (2700 kilometers) above the surface, which will provide an overview of Vesta in the visible and the infrared, with also geologic and compositional maps. Radio signals of the spacecraft will allow to check Vesta's gravity field. The survey phase is to last 20 days as each orbits takes about 3 days. After such a first phase, DAWN will resume thrusting, taking about a month to spiral down gently to its next science orbit for an even closer view. That orbit, at 420 miles (680km) above the surface, known as 'High Altitude Mapping Orbit' (HAMO) is to begin in late September, it will last one month and 60 orbits with a orbit duration now of half a day, yielding a map of the illuminated portion of Vesta at even higher resolution, and enable to stereo pictures
 | A detailed view of Vesta's surface evidencing like such that minor planet holds features likely dating back to the earliest origins of the solar system. Varied types of craters, some alike to what had been at Saturn's Phoebe are seen as are terrain features likely caused by plate tectonics. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
Since NASA's Hubble Space Telescope first detected it years ago, Dawn allows to a better view of a southern pole circular structure, or depression, several hundreds of miles wide, with cliffs that are also several miles high. One impressive mountain in the center of the depression rises approximately 9 miles (15 kilometers) above the base of this depression, making it one of the highest elevations on all known bodies with solid surfaces in the solar system. The collection of images, obtained when Dawn was about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) above Vesta's surface, was used to determine its rotational axis and a system of latitude and longitude coordinates. One of the first tasks tackled by the Dawn science team was to determine the precise orientation of Vesta's rotation axis relative to the celestial sphere. The zero-longitude, or prime meridian, of Vesta was defined by the science team using a tiny crater about 1,640 feet (500 meters) in diameter, which they named 'Claudia,' after a Roman woman during the second century B.C. Dawn's craters will be named after the vestal virgins—the priestesses of the goddess Vesta, and famous Roman women, while other features will be named for festivals and towns of that era. Currently it is northern winter on Vesta, and the northern polar region is in perpetual darkness
Studies continued with the southern hemisphere of Vesta. The asteroid's southern hemisphere boasts one of the largest mountains in the solar system. Other findings show that Vesta's surface has striking diversity in its composition, particularly around craters. The surface of Vesta appears to be much rougher than most asteroids in the main asteroid belt. In addition, preliminary data indicate that areas in the southern hemisphere are as young as 1 billion to 2 billion years old, much younger than areas in the North! Albeit analysis still not complete, troughs seen at Vesta are consistent with models of fracture formation due to giant impact. High Cliffs at Vesta's South Pole are several miles high, along with deep grooves and craters. Collisions with other asteroids may have played a role as well as internal processes that occurred during the asteroid's early phases. A moutain at the South Pole is almost three times as high as Mt. Everest or about 13 miles (22 kilometers) above the average height of the surroundings. Dawn scientists by late October are also reaching to the low-altitude mapping orbit, to last at least 10 weeks. The primary science objectives in this orbit are to learn about the elemental composition of Vesta's surface with the gamma ray and neutron detector and to probe the interior structure of the asteroid by measuring the gravity field. First provided images at that detailed resolution have the surface show abundant small craters, and textures such as small grooves and lineaments that are reminiscent of the structures seen in low-resolution data from the higher-altitude orbits. Also, this fine scale highlights small outcrops of bright and dark material
Dawn scientists successfully passed Dawn into its closest, or 'Low Altitude Mapping Orbit,' to the asteroid by late November 2011, at an altitude averaging about 130 miles (210 kilometers). It is to last at least 10 weeks. The primary science objectives in this orbit are to learn about the elemental composition of Vesta's surface with the gamma ray and neutron detector and to probe the interior structure of the asteroid by measuring the gravity field. First provided images at that detailed resolution have the surface show abundant small craters, and textures such as small grooves and lineaments that are reminiscent of the structures seen in low-resolution data from the higher-altitude orbits. Also, this fine scale highlights small outcrops of bright and dark material. After the science collection is complete at the low altitude mapping orbit, Dawn will spiral out and conduct another science campaign at the high altitude mapping orbit altitude (420 miles, or 680 kilometers), when the sun will have risen higher in the northern regions. With the colors assigned by scientists to show different rock or mineral types, Vesta was revealed to be a world of many varied, well-separated layers and ingredients, supporting the notion that it is transitional between the terrestrial planets -like Earth, Mercury, Mars and Venus- and its asteroid siblings. Surface materials contain the iron-bearing mineral pyroxene and are a mixture of rapidly cooled surface rocks and a deeper layer that cooled more slowly. A layered structure has been excavated by impacts as the rugged surface of Vesta is prone to slumping of debris on steep slopes. Vesta's iron core makes it special and more like terrestrial planets. The distinct compositional variation and layering that we see at Vesta appear to derive from internal melting of the body shortly after formation, which separated Vesta into crust, mantle and core. Roughly half of the giant asteroid Vesta is expected to be so cold and to receive so little sunlight that water ice could have survived there for billions of years beneath the surface, recent studies by early 2012 based on telescopes including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal, according to the first published models of Vesta's average global temperatures and illumination by the Sun. At the difference of the Moon or Mercury, Vesta probably does not have any significant permanently shadowed craters, not even in the roughly 300-mile-diameter (480-kilometer-diameter) crater near the south pole, as the asteroid possesses a axis tilt of about 27 degree, bringing to a seasonal cycle during a year lasting 3.6 years. A band of relatively warm temperatures from the equator to about 27 degrees North and South in latitude is preventing any water there as water ice should be lying relatively deep in the regolith -soil- of the poles. Water could lie too at the bottom of craters down to 6 miles (10km) in diameter. More should come with studies performed from orbit by DAWN. Results in early 2015 show that Vesta may have had short-lived flows of water-mobilized material on its surface, because it had small, localized patches of ice in its subsurface due to comets impacts, hinting to that such minor planets like Vesta looks like their large planets counterparts. Craters with curved gullies are associated with pitted terrain, which has been independently suggested as evidence for loss of volatile gases from Vesta and such craters appear to be less than a few hundred million years old, which is still young compared to Vesta's age of 4.6 billion years
 | That image shows many buried craters located within the equatorial trough region of the giant asteroid Vesta. It is in an area that bears traces of the material thrown out by the impact that created the Rhea Silvia basin in the asteroid's south polar region. Also visible are lineated features in a variety of shapes and sizes. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | The image shows a part of one of the troughs at the equator of the giant asteroid Vesta. In the image, the floor of the trough appears as the brighter deposit at the top of this image, contrasted against the darker band of the trough edge. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | Part of the rim of a fresh crater on Vesta as located in an area known as the 'Heavily Cratered Terrain' in the northern hemisphere of the asteroid. The image covers an area 11 miles by 11 miles (18 kilometers by 18 kilometers). picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
New images and data highlight, by March 2012, the diversity of Vesta's surface and reveal unusual geologic features. Vesta is one of the brightest objects in the solar system. DAWN has indeed found that some areas on Vesta can be nearly twice as bright as others, revealing clues about the asteroid's history. Such a bright material originates from Vesta and has undergone little change since the formation of Vesta over 4 billion years ago. Bright areas are most predominant in and around craters, varying in range from from several hundred feet to around 10 miles (some above a hundred of meters to 16 kilometers) across as they might originate from impacts which crashed at Vesta exposing and spreading this bright material. The impact process may have mixed the bright material with darker surface material. Distinct dark deposits exist on a other hand which can appear dark gray, brown and red and be small, well-defined deposits around impact craters or larger regional deposits. That dark material is not randomly distributed suggesting underlying geology. It seems to be related to impacts and their aftermath as astronomers theorize carbon-rich asteroids could have hit Vesta at speeds low enough to produce some of the smaller deposits without blasting away the surface. Higher-speed asteroids also could have hit Vesta's surface and melted the volcanic basaltic crust, darkening existing surface material. That melted conglomeration appears in the walls and floors of impact craters, on hills and ridges, and underneath brighter, more recent ejecta. That would also mean that the dark material of Vesta suggest the minor planet may preserve ancient materials from the asteroid belt and beyond, possibly from the birth of the solar system. Melting events like these were suspected at asteroids but never before seen. Further analysis went on that dark material at Vesta is carbon-rich material which tends to appear around the edges of two giant impact basins in Vesta's southern hemisphere and also the surface elsewhere, the rims of small craters included. The analysis suggests that the dark material was most likely delivered by the object that created the older of the two basins, known as Veneneia, about 2 to 3 billion years ago. Some of those materials were later covered up by the impact that created the younger basin, Rheasilvia. Other finds are showing varied surface composition, sharp temperature changes and clues to Vesta's internal structure. A variety of surface mineral and rock patterns are extant, many composed of iron- and magnesium-rich minerals, which often are found in Earth's volcanic rocks. Images also reveal smooth pond-like deposits, which might have formed as fine dust created during impacts settled into low regions. All that suggests an amazing variety of processes that paint the Vestan surface. Impacts and landslides further are constantly renewing the asteroid's surface. Temperatures at Vesta can vary from as warm as minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius) to as cold as minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 100 degrees Celsius) in the shadows as the the surface responds quickly to illumination with no mitigating effect of an atmosphere
 | A still from a animation shows the topography of a portion of the wall and interior of the Rheasilvia impact basin which is 310 miles (500 kilometers) in diameter) in Vesta's south-polar region, a basin which affected Vesta's global shape and geology. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | High Cliffs at Vesta's south pole several miles or kilometers high, with deep grooves, and craters as how this wild scenery formed is not yet clear. Collisions with other asteroids may have played a role as well as internal processes that occurred during the asteroid's early phases. This oblique view has been derived from a digital elevation model. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | This image is showing a interior wall and southern terrace of Marcia crater on Vesta. Relatively smooth material covers much of the terrace and has flowed downslope (toward the top right of the image) through channels. This material was likely melted during the impact from a space rock onto the surface of Vesta that formed Marcia crater. The impact appears to have occurred at a high velocity. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | The interplay of bright and dark material at the rim of Marcia crater on Vesta is visible in this image as the bright and dark material appear to be exposed from weathering as the dark material could be in a layer of outcrops of material thrown out by old impacts that were later covered by subsequent impacts. They could also have developed when space rocks collided with the surface of Vesta to create nearby Minucia crater. Then, they may have been covered by bright material thrown out when an impact created Calpuria crater. The dark materials may also be ancient volcanic flows or intrusions exposed by the Marcia impact. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/LPI/ASU |
 | Dark material is seen near a series of craters known as 'The Snowman' on Vesta, or ejected material which is a complex mixture of components. They likely include both dark material thrown out from the craters during the impacts that created them (ejecta), and darker melt that occurred during the impact. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/ASU |
 | Bright material extends out from the crater Canuleia as it appears to have been thrown out of the crater during the impact that created it. Canuleia crater is located outside the rim of the Rheasilvia basin in the southern hemisphere and about 6 miles (10 kilometers) in diameter. The bright ejected material extends 12 to 19 miles (20 to 30 kilometers) beyond the crater's rim. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | A young crater on Vesta that 9 miles (15 kilometers) in diameter with layering visible in the crater walls, as are large boulders that were thrown out in the material ejected from the impact. This crater formed within the deep Rheasilvia impact basin. It may provide clues to Vesta's composition at depth. picture courtesy site 'Amateur Astronomy' from a picture NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/UMD |
Vesta now has been revealed as a fossil of the early solar system, likely a a remnant intact protoplanet from the earliest epoch of its formation, with a more varied, diverse surface than originally thought. Scientists now see Vesta as the unique layered, planetesimal with an iron core known to survive from the early epochs of the solar system. The asteroid's geologic complexity can be attributed to a process that separated the asteroid into a crust, mantle and iron core with a radius of approximately 68 miles (110 km) about 4.56 billion years ago, which is alike the way terrestrial planets and Earth's moon formed. The asteroid once may have had a subsurface magma ocean, which occurs when a body undergoes almost complete melting, leading to a layered planetesimal. 6 percent of all meteorites, or the howardite-eucrite-diogenite (HED) meteorites, seen with signatures of pyroxene, an iron- and magnesium-rich mineral are originating from Vesta like previously thought by astronomers. Vestoids too are originating there. The asteroid's central peak in the Rheasilvia basin in the southern hemisphere is much higher and wider, relative to its crater size, than the central peaks of craters on bodies like our moon. Vesta also bears similarities to other low-gravity worlds like Saturn's small icy moons. Scientists now can date the two giant impacts that pounded Vesta's southern hemisphere and created the basin Veneneia approximately 2 billion years ago and the Rheasilvia basin about 1 billion years ago as the asteroid survived that double blow. The fact that the largest impact on Vesta is so young was surprising indeed
 | This artist's concept shows the internal structure of the giant asteroid Vesta, based on data from NASA's Dawn mission. Dawn shows that Vesta has an iron core that is about 68 miles (110 kilometers) in radius, suggesting that Vesta completely melted in its early history, allowing iron to sink to form the core and producing a basaltic crust. This illustration shows the innermost core in brown, the mantle in green and the crust in gray. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech |
 | This colorized map from NASA's Dawn mission shows the distribution of minerals across the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta that indicates that the Vesta surface is not uniform, with a sharp contrast between the northern and southern regions. A type of mineral known as diogenite is typical of Vesta's lower crust as the upper crust, however, has more eucritic material. Diogenites are silicate rocks with more magnesium than the eucrites, which are richer in iron. The North-South variation in minerals indicates that the deep crust exposed in the southern Rheasilvia region is dominated by pyroxene-rich, diogenitic material while the equatorial region seems to retain the most ancient eucrite-rich mineralogy. In this image, blue shows a richer concentration of diogenite minerals and yellow shows a richer concentration of eucrite minerals. Rheasilvia Basin on a other hand -not shown in this study- have areas with less iron than nearby areas. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/INAF/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | These images of Tarpeia crater, near the south pole of the giant asteroid Vesta, were obtained by the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer on NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Colorized versions of the images show younger material with abundant pyroxene (an iron- and magnesium-rich material) and older layers with less pyroxene. The brown and yellow materials have similar composition, but the brown material receives less illumination from sunlight and appears darker. The material on the edge of the crater rim that appears blue in these images suggests a different, fresher material. This material must have been exposed during a landslide or a similar recent event that occurred on the side of the crater. Researchers think the blue areas have been less altered over time, preserving more of the original material of Vesta. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/INAF |
 | A perspective view of the Rheasilvia impact basin in Vesta’s southern hemisphere. In the color view, red indicates higher areas and blue indicates lower areas. The central mountain is approximately 110 miles (180 kilometers) wide and 12 to 15 miles (20 to 25 kilometers) tall. Cliffs 9 to 12 miles (15 to 20 kilometers) high are seen along parts of the edge of the basin. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI |
Data Dated July 2012 and After
Since June 15th, 2012, DAWN has begun its final major science data-gathering phase at Vesta at an average altitude of 420 miles (680 kilometers) above the surface. Over the past six weeks, Dawn has been gently spiraling up from its lowest orbit – 130 miles, or 210 kilometers, above the surface – to the final planned science orbit, known as high-altitude mapping orbit 2. Last observations obtained from this orbit will provide a companion set of data and images to those obtained during the first high-altitude mapping orbit phase, completed in October 2011. Now the angle of sunlight hitting Vesta has changed, illuminating more of the northern region. Vesta completely melted in the past, forming a layered body with an iron core. Vesta also bears the scarring from titanic collisions suffered in its southern hemisphere, surviving not one but two colossal impacts in the last two billion years
Enormous, rare troughs that wrap around Vesta are likely the result of a large collision when the crustal layer at the surface appeared to stretch to the breaking point and large portions of the crust dropped down along two faults on either side of the downward-moving block. This is a other certainty about that the asteroid is differentiated. The biggest of those troughs, named Divalia Fossa, surpasses the size of the Grand Canyon. It spans 289 miles (465km) in length, 13.6 (22km) in width and 3 miles (5km)) in depth. Pitted terrain on a other hand, mostly by the equator, mark where the volatiles, likely water boiled off. DAWN found signatures of hydrogen, likely in the form of hydroxyl or water bound to minerals in Vesta's surface. The source of the hydrogen within Vesta's surface appears to be hydrated minerals delivered by HED meteorites that collided with Vesta at speeds slow enough to preserve their volatile content. Water ice could survive near the surface around Vesta's poles albeit no permanently shadowed polar regions are extant at the difference of the Moon. Other space rocks crashed into these deposits later at high speed. The heat from the collisions converted the hydrogen bound to the minerals into water, which evaporated. The holes that were left as the water escaped as they stretch as much as 0.6 miles (1km) across and go down as deep as 700 feet (200m). Pitted terrain is best preserved in sections of Marcia crater. Hydrated minerals -and likely water in important quantities, thus played an important role in shaping the asteroid's geology and surface. Vesta has been observed constantly stirring its outermost layer to rejuvenate its surface. Bright rays of the youngest features on Vesta are seen to degrade rapidly and disappear into background soil. Frequent, small impacts and landslides along a steeper terrain than elsewhere likely contribute. A variety of dramatic light and dark splotches on Vesta's surface also show the brightness range of Vesta is among the largest observed on rocky bodies in our solar system. Bright material is considered native to Vesta as dark material was considered to come from the shock of high-speed impacts melting and darkening the underlying rocks or from recent volcanic activity. Recent findings however are showing that the distribution of dark material is widespread and occurs both in small spots and in diffuse deposits, without correlation to any particular underlying geology. The likely source of the dark material is now shown to be the carbon-rich material in meteoroids, which are also believed to have deposited hydrated minerals from other asteroids on Vesta as about 300 dark asteroids with diameters between 0.6 to 6 miles (1 and 10 kilometers) likely hit Vesta during the last 3.5 billion years. This would have been enough to wrap Vesta in a blanket of mixed material about 3 to 7 feet (1 to 2 meters) thick
Scientists have spotted intriguing gullies -features which exist at Mars too or on the Moon- that sculpt the walls of geologically young craters on Vesta. Narrow channels of two types, some that look like straight chutes and others that carve more sinuous trails and end in lobe-shaped deposits are extant. Straight gullies are textbook examples of flows of dry material, like sand as sinuous gullies are a unexpected, ununderstood find. The sinuous gullies are longer, narrower, and curvier than the short, wide, straight ones as they tend to start from V-shaped, collapsed regions described as 'alcoves' and merge with other gullies. Different processes likely formed the two types of gullies
With the use of the seven color filters on the craft's camera system and since different minerals reflect light of different wavelengths to different degrees, the mission helped reveal compositional differences that remain hidden without them. That allowed scientists to make appear structures such as melts from impacts, craters buried by quakes and foreign material brought by space rocks
Vesta was recently found to have two large impact craters near its south pole, exposing subsurface material. As surface material in the northern hemisphere of Vesta came from a depth of about 12.5 miles, exposed southern material comes from a depth of 37 to 62 miles. Large amounts of olivine from the mantle were not seen, suggesting that the outer 62 miles or so is mainly igneous crust. The crust–mantle boundary (or Moho) is thus deeper than 50 miles. Impacts from several large meteorites have shaped Vesta's history as northern hemisphere experienced large impacts suggesting there were more large objects in the asteroid belt early on than scientists thought. Frozen water could lie beneath smooth patches on the surface of Vesta, which might have helped to shape the minor planet surface texture
 | Views of Marcia crater are showing the most spectacularly preserved example of 'pitted terrain.' Marcia is one of the youngest craters on Vesta, with a diameter of about 40 miles (70 kilometers). picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/MPS/DLR/IDA/JHUAPL |
 | That distinctive 'pitted terrain' observed by at Vesta has also been seen on Mars with morphologies of pits similar on both bodies (irregular shapes and sharp angles where pits share walls). From left to right: the floor of Martian Tooting crater, the floor of Martian Zunil crater, the floor of Vestan Marcia crater. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/JHUAPL |
 | Dark, carbon-rich materials tends to speckle rims of smaller craters or their immediate surroundings like seen on that picture. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | A geological map of Vesta in its general areas (no legend). Stereo photos turned topographic models of the surface aid in the geologic interpretation. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU |
 | Geological time scale of asteroid Vesta. Vesta’s geologic timescale is determined by the sequence of large impact events. The asteroid's crust predates the first such event. The uncertainty in the model age dates stems from the uncertainty of the flux of impacting small asteroids (Ga if for billions of years ago). picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU |
 | This mosaic synthesizes the best views of Vesta. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
 | Those huge grooves on Vesta were the result of large impacts/span>. picture courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
After the craft was returned to its normal mode of operations on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012 after a reaction wheels trouble which keeps unresolved, DAWN departed from Vesta at about 2:26 a.m. EDT on Sept. 5 as the spacecraft is now traveling toward Ceres, its next target in the Asteroid Belt where it should get by early 2015. Dawn spiraled away from Vesta as gently as it arrived using ion propulsion. The mission will use its attitude control thrusters for pointing instead its reaction wheels
Website Manager: G. Guichard, site 'Amateur Astronomy,' http://stars5.6te.net. Page Editor: G. Guichard. last edited: 1/26/2015. contact us at ggwebsites@outlook.com