Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




IRON AND ICE
NASA's Dawn probe closes in on giant asteroid
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) May 3, 2011


The Dawn space probe is closing in on its first target, the massive asteroid Vesta, almost four years after its journey began in September 2007, NASA said Tuesday.

Dawn is on a long-haul mission to unlock the secrets of the solar system by studying the two largest asteroids orbiting the sun, Vesta and Ceres -- a trip that will carry it three billion miles by the time it is over.

It will be about three more months before the spacecraft gets close enough to begin orbiting the huge proto-planet, but NASA said it is eager to get to work.

"We feel a little like Columbus approaching the shores of the New World," said Christopher Russell, Dawn principal investigator, based at the University of California in Los Angeles.

"The Dawn team can't wait to start mapping this Terra Incognita."

After orbiting Vesta for about a year, the unmanned Dawn spacecraft will then carry on to Ceres, an even larger asteroid, in 2015, NASA said.

The deep-space probe is carrying photographic and science instruments to study the surface of the asteroids and analyze their gravitational pull.

Dawn's mission is to learn about the first moments of the solar system's creation 4.6 billion years ago by gathering information about Ceres and Vesta, including what kinds of elements form such terrestrial planets, among them Earth, Mars and Mercury.

It also plans to explain why and how Vesta and Ceres followed a different evolutionary and formative path, particularly the role that water may have played in their development.

Ceres, discovered in 1801, has a spherical shape and a diameter of about 960 kilometers (596 miles). Scientists believe it may have a layer of thick ice under its crust, covering a rocky core.

Ceres was classified in 2006 as a "dwarf planet," according to a new definition by astronomers to describe asteroids in the solar system.

The decision by the International Astronomical Union was the result of a debate about the status of Pluto, which is now classified as a dwarf planet along with Ceres and another celestial body, Eris.

Vesta, discovered in 1807, is smaller than Ceres but is the third largest asteroid in the solar system. With a diameter of 520 kilometers (323 miles), Vesta has a rocky surface without a trace of water and a hot interior.

Scientists are especially interested in the enormous crater on the south pole of Vesta, 460 kilometers wide and 13 kilometers deep, which is believed to be the result of a major collision.

After having canceled the Dawn project previously, NASA revived the mission in 2006 after an investment of 449 million dollars.

"After more than three and a half years of interplanetary travel, we are finally closing in on our first destination," said Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"We're not there yet, but Dawn will soon bring into focus an entire world that has been, for most of the two centuries scientists have been studying it, little more than a pinpoint of light."

.


Related Links
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








IRON AND ICE
Spacecraft Earth to Perform Asteroid 'Flyby' This Fall
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 03, 2011
Since the dawn of the space age, humanity has sent 16 robotic emissaries to fly by some of the solar system's most intriguing and nomadic occupants - comets and asteroids. The data and imagery collected on these deep-space missions of exploration have helped redefine our understanding of how Earth and our part of the galaxy came to be. But this fall, Mother Nature is giving scientists around the ... read more


IRON AND ICE
BRP To Contribute To Canadian Moon And Mars Exploration Programs

Naveen Jain Co-Founder And Chairman Of Moon Express

Project Morpheus To Begin Testing At NASA's Johnson Space Center

NASA Announces Winners Of 18th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race

IRON AND ICE
Exploring Rio Tinto Eurobotically

NASA Orbiter Reveals Big Changes in Mars' Atmosphere

Dry ice find hints Mars was a wetter place: study

A Tale Of Two Deserts

IRON AND ICE
Final preparations for Soyuz' first "virtual" flight

New software to support interest in extreme science

Spiders in Space - The Sequel

Voyager - The Love Story

IRON AND ICE
Top Chinese scientists honored with naming of minor planets

China sees smooth preparation for launch of unmanned module

China to attempt first space rendezvous

Countdown begins for Chineses space station program

IRON AND ICE
Soyuz is in the launch zone at Europe's Spaceport

Progress Docks To ISS

Russia ferries supplies to space

ESA prepares Soyuz for dry roll-out

IRON AND ICE
Arianespace to launch ABS-2 in 2013

GSAT-8 put through its paces

Ariane Ariane 5 enjoys second successful launch for 2011

Ariane rocket launches two telecoms satellites

IRON AND ICE
Astronomers unveil portrait of 'super-exotic super-Earth'

Tuning Into ExoPlanet Radio

The Shocking Environment Of Hot Jupiters

Radio signals could 'tag' distant planets

IRON AND ICE
Foxconn workers treated like 'machines': labour group

Researchers Find More Efficient Way To Steer Laser Beams

US TV ownership down for first time in 20 years

Goddard Building Instrument To Study Reconnection




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement