Stig Östlund

fredag, april 08, 2011

Dawn Approaches Asteroid Vesta‏

Source: NASA


April 7, 2011: After 3 ½ years of thrusting silently through the void, NASA's Dawn spacecraft (left) is on the threshold of a new world. It's deep in the asteroid belt, less than 4 months from giant asteroid Vesta.

"We're closing in," says Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission manager. "And I'm getting more excited every day!"

Dawn will enter orbit around Vesta in July 2011, becoming the first spacecraft ever to orbit a body in the asteroid belt. After conducting a detailed study of the uncharted alien world for a year, the spacecraft will pull off an even more impressive first. It will leave Vesta, fly to dwarf planet Ceres, and enter orbit there.

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