[meteorite-list] NASA'S Dawn Spacecraft Enroute to Shed Light on Asteroid Belt

[Ron Baalke]

Sept. 27, 2007

Dwayne Brown 
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

Allard Beutel
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
allard.beutel at nasa.gov 

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
david.c.agle at nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 07-213

NASA'S DAWN SPACECRAFT ENROUTE TO SHED LIGHT ON ASTEROID BELT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's Dawn spacecraft is on its way to study a 
pair of asteroids after lifting off Thursday from the Cape Canaveral 
Air Force Station at 7:34 a.m. EDT. 

Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 
Pasadena, Calif., received telemetry on schedule at 9:44 a.m. 
indicating Dawn had achieved proper orientation in space and its 
massive solar array was generating power from the sun.

"Dawn has risen, and the spacecraft is healthy," said the mission's 
project manager Keyur Patel of JPL. "About this time tomorrow [Friday 
morning], we will have passed the moon's orbit." 

During the next 80 days, spacecraft controllers will test and 
calibrate the myriad of spacecraft systems and subsystems, ensuring 
Dawn is ready for the long journey ahead.

"Dawn will travel back in time by probing deep into the asteroid 
belt," said Dawn Principal Investigator Christopher Russell, 
University of California, Los Angeles. "This is a moment the space 
science community has been waiting for since interplanetary 
spaceflight became possible."

Dawn's 3-billion-mile odyssey includes exploration of asteroid Vesta 
in 2011 and the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015. These two icons of the 
asteroid belt have been witness to much of our solar system's 
history. By using Dawn's instruments to study both asteroids, 
scientists more accurately can compare and contrast the two. Dawn's 
science instrument suite will measure elemental and mineral 
composition, shape, surface topography, tectonic history, and it will 
seek water-bearing minerals. In addition, the Dawn spacecraft and how 
it orbits Vesta and Ceres will be used to measure the celestial 
bodies' masses and gravity fields.

The spacecraft's engines use a unique, hyper-efficient system called 
ion propulsion, which uses electricity to ionize xenon to generate 
thrust. The 12-inch-wide ion thrusters provide less power than 
conventional engines but can maintain thrust for months at a time. 

The management of the Dawn launch was the responsibility of NASA's 
Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The Delta 2 launch vehicle was provided by 
United Launch Alliance, Denver.

The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by JPL, a division of 
the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, for NASA's Science 
Mission Directorate, Washington.

The University of California, Los Angeles, is responsible for overall 
Dawn mission science. Other scientific partners include Los Alamos 
National Laboratory, N.M.; Max Planck Institute for Solar System 
Research, Katlenburg, Germany; DLR Institute for Planetary Research, 
Berlin; Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, Rome; and the 
Italian Space Agency. Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., 
designed and built the Dawn spacecraft.

To learn more about Dawn and its mission to the asteroid belt, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/dawn

	
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