[meteorite-list] Dawn Arrives In Florida - A Little After Dawn

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/releases/2007/release-20070410.html

April 10, 2007

Tabatha Thompson/Dwayne Brown 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-3895/1726

George Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468 

DC Agle 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011

RELEASE: 11-07

DAWN ARRIVES IN FLORIDA -- A LITTLE AFTER DAWN

The Dawn spacecraft arrived at Astrotech Space Operations in 
Titusville, Fla., at 9 a.m. EDT today. Dawn, NASA's mission into the 
heart of the asteroid belt, is at the facility for final processing 
and launch operations. Dawn's launch period opens June 30.

"Dawn only has two more trips to make," said Dawn project manager 
Keyur Patel of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. 
"One will be in mid-June when it makes the 15-mile journey from the 
processing facility to the launch pad. The second will be when Dawn 
rises to begin its eight-year, 3.2-billion-mile odyssey into the 
heart of the asteroid belt."

The Dawn spacecraft will employ ion propulsion to explore two of the 
asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid 
Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres.

Now that Dawn has arrived at Astrotech near NASA's Kennedy Space 
Center, final prelaunch processing will begin. Technicians will 
install the spacecraft's batteries, check out the control thrusters 
and test the spacecraft's instruments. In late April, Dawn's large 
solar arrays will be attached and then deployed for testing. In early 
May, a compatibility test will be performed with the Deep Space 
Network used for tracking and communications. Dawn will then be 
loaded with fuel to be used for spacecraft control during the 
mission. Finally, in mid-May, the spacecraft will undergo 
spin-balance testing. Dawn will then be mated to the upper stage 
booster and installed into a spacecraft transportation canister for 
the trip to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This is currently 
scheduled for June 19, when it will be mated to the Delta II rocket 
at Pad 17-B.

The rocket that will launch Dawn is a Delta II 7925-H manufactured by 
the United Launch Alliance; it is a heavier-lift model of the 
standard Delta II that uses larger solid rocket boosters. The first 
stage is scheduled to be erected on Pad 17-B in late May. Then the 
nine strap-on solid rocket boosters will be raised and attached. The 
second stage, which burns hypergolic propellants, will be hoisted 
atop the first stage in the first week of June. The fairing which 
surrounds the spacecraft will then be hoisted into the clean room of 
the mobile service tower.

Next, engineers will perform several tests of the Delta II. In 
mid-June, as a leak check, the first stage will be loaded with liquid 
oxygen during a simulated countdown. The next day, a simulated flight 
test will be performed, simulating the vehicle's post-liftoff flight 
events without fuel aboard. The electrical and mechanical systems of 
the entire Delta II will be exercised during this test. Once the Dawn 
payload is atop the launch vehicle, a final major test will be 
conducted: an integrated test of the Delta II and Dawn working 
together. This will be a combined minus and plus count, simulating 
all events as they will occur on launch day, but without propellants 
aboard the vehicle. 

The NASA Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center and the 
United Launch Alliance are responsible for the launch of the Delta 
II.

The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by the JPL, a division 
of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's 
Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. The University of 
California Los Angeles is responsible for overall Dawn mission 
science. Other scientific partners include Los Alamos National 
Laboratory, New Mexico; German Aerospace Center, Berlin; Max Planck 
Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg, Germany; and Italian 
National Institute of Astrophysics, Palermo. Orbital Sciences 
Corporation of Dulles, Va., designed and built the Dawn spacecraft.

Additional information about Dawn is online at:

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, 
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

	
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