DAWN mission to orbit 1 Ceres & 4 Vesta.

bobblebob · Feb 14, 2008

Just got in, i take it ive missed the Mission Status Briefing? Anything important that i missed?

3488 · Feb 14, 2008

Hi bobblebob, No you have not missed anything. MeteorWayne was more than good enough to find & link to a recent update on the DAWN site. Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

MeteorWayne · Apr 9, 2008

Dawn Completes Another Month of Thrusting March 31, 2008 Dawn thrust with its ion propulsion system for most of March, stopping once each week to point its main antenna to Earth. Almost 96% of the month was devoted to thrusting. By the end of March, the spacecraft was farther from Earth than the Sun.Thrusting Continues and Backup Framing Camera Tested February 29, 2008 Dawn continued ion thrusting through most of February. On February 21 and 22, the backup framing camera was put through a series of tests to demonstrate its performance. The camera successfully completed all the steps, and analysis shows the instrument is healthy and operating as expected. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

3488 · Apr 9, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Dawn Completes Another Month of ThrustingMarch 31, 2008Dawn thrust with its ion propulsion system for most of March, stopping once each week to point its main antenna to Earth. Almost 96% of the month was devoted to thrusting. By the end of March, the spacecraft was farther from Earth than the Sun.Thrusting Continues and Backup Framing Camera TestedFebruary 29, 2008Dawn continued ion thrusting through most of February. On February 21 and 22, the backup framing camera was put through a series of tests to demonstrate its performance. The camera successfully completed all the steps, and analysis shows the instrument is healthy and operating as expected. Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV>Thank you very much Wayne.Wonder what they tested the backup Framing Camera on? Would like to see the images. Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

MeteorWayne · Apr 9, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Thank you very much Wayne.Wonder what they tested the backup Framing Camera on? Would like to see the images.Andrew Brown. Posted by 3488</DIV>I can't find any images yet, but I'm looking... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

h2ouniverse · Jun 30, 2008

Hi all, I was wondering whether there were artist's views of potential Cererean landscapes. Couldn't find any. Even on Dawn's site (except one with no detail of surface)My best bet would be that it resembles a little bit Iapetus dark face (albedo 0.05, versus 0.09 for Ceres). With potentially some ice at the poles and thermal segregation inbetween (like on Callisto too), with ice on the shadowed part of high latitudes craters like on picture below.My best "guessing picture" of Ceres pole would be this one below, with smaller icy areas.Other guessing pictures of what Dawn will find ? (or artist views, especially for polar areas) <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/0/5/70cd722b-6aa1-4cee-95dd-3a4882bcb5e3.Medium.jpg" alt="" />

h2ouniverse · Jun 30, 2008

or this one? (with a smaller "cap") <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/10/5/ea0b6953-7dfa-4150-a502-2331d4f2041b.Medium.jpg" alt="" />

3488 · Jun 30, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>or this one? (with a smaller "cap") Posted by h2ouniverse</DIV>Very interesting Joel,I wonder if 1 Ceres could be more like Dione or Ariel, if internal differentiation, has occured, causing a thinnish alrady frozen crust to crack, causing rifting, cliffs & canyons. If not than I suspect 1 Ceres may look more like Iapetus. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/15/15/3fadf5ae-91f2-4d13-8ffe-a344bdd69eab.Medium.jpg" alt="" />  Dione below, possibly like 1 Ceres. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/12/5/0cc49ef6-01c2-4eb0-b540-be9c142062a0.Medium.jpg" alt="" />  Or Ariel (note the Uranusshine on the bottom right on the dark side), <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/10/13/5abed52f-779f-4b2e-bdc7-1c11ee3b9a71.Medium.jpg" alt="" />  Andrew Brown.  <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

h2ouniverse · Jun 30, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Very interesting Joel,I wonder if 1 Ceres could be more like Dione or Ariel, if internal differentiation, has occured, cuasing a thinnish alrady frozen crust to crack, causing rifting, cliffs & canyons. If not than I suspect 1 Ceres may look more like Iapetus.  Andrew Brown.  Posted by 3488</DIV> Hi Andrew, I would bet on a hydrid of both for the poles. An Iapetus-looking surface (for the globally dark albedo, the contrast with ice patches and the thermally segregated landscape) with Dione-like cracks.Actually, I hope it will be Ceres-like. (<img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-wink.gif" border="0" alt="Wink" title="Wink" />)

MeteorWayne · Jun 30, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Hi Andrew, I would bet on a hydrid of both for the poles. An Iapetus-looking surface (for the globally dark albedo, the contrast with ice patches and the thermally segregated landscape) with Dione-like cracks.Actually, I hope it will be Ceres-like. () Posted by h2ouniverse</DIV> I guess this is where we all have a fundemental difference in our perspectives.I prefer to wait for the data, since I think speculation without data is worthless.That's just my perspective, speculate away folks!Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

3488 · Jun 30, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Hi Andrew, I would bet on a hydrid of both for the poles. An Iapetus-looking surface (for the globally dark albedo, the contrast with ice patches and the thermally segregated landscape) with Dione-like cracks.Actually, I hope it will be Ceres-like. () Posted by h2ouniverse</DIV>I wonder if Ceres will look like Ceres, (cheeky sod aren't I)? <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/6/13/762d76d6-9410-4f49-ad13-8a9b807d314c.Medium.gif" alt="" /> In all seriousness though, we have seen a wide range of ice covered bodies in close up, from planet sized Ganymede to some of the smaller moons of Saturn like Telesto & just about all sizes in between.There is a chance that we already have seen similar, but after learning hard lessons, i.e how lunar like Io was to tell scientists much about the cratering rate of the inner part of the solar system, one of the biggest bollock ups in predicting what an object would be like (Io of course being the most geologically active known planetary body), of course Titan's global methane ocean does not exist or the Uranian moons being just cratered unevolved ice spheres, I think that 1 Ceres could spring a major surprise. Perhaps 4 Vesta too, may not be how is envisaged either. This is such a fantastic mission.Andrew Brown.  <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

h2ouniverse · Jun 30, 2008

[QUOTE since I think speculation without data is worthless. Posted by MeteorWayne[/QUOTE] hi Wayne, excepted that I do need an artist's view of Ceres poles... (+expectation of terrain) and can't find ones. So I'm considering morphing pictures.  (by despair)regards.

3488 · Jun 30, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I guess this is where we all have a fundemental difference in our perspectives.I prefer to wait for the data, since I think speculation without data is worthless.That's just my perspective, speculate away folks!Wayne Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV>That's very true Wayne.It is always a good thought exercise, but what is the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope or Keck AO images? 200 KM or there abouts??? It's good enough to make out rudimentary details, such as light & dark patches & perhaps some large craters, but that's about it.Finer detail like canyons, cryovolcanoes, small craters, etc, will remain invisible with current means, until DAWN arrives.1 Ceres as viewed by Keck AO. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/8/15/58a6a2a7-a23e-4e9d-af94-67c2baec3297.Medium.jpg" alt="" />  1 Ceres, colour view from Hubble Space Telescope. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/10/13/ba9c414f-2cee-494d-bd9a-934676bb8b6b.Medium.jpg" alt="" />Andrew Brown.  <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

MeteorWayne · Jun 30, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>That's very true Wayne.It is always a good thought exercise, but what is the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope or Keck AO images? 200 KM or there abouts??? It's good enough to make out rudimentary details, such as light & dark patches & perhaps some large craters, but that's about it.Finer detail like canyons, cryovolcanoes, small craters, etc, will remain invisible with current means, until DAWN arrives.1 Ceres as viewed by Keck AO.  1 Ceres, colour view from Hubble Space Telescope. Andrew Brown.  Posted by 3488</DIV> I'll be really pissed if I expire before Dawn gets ther...

<div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

Boris_Badenov · Jun 30, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I'll be really pissed if I expire before Dawn gets ther...

Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV> DIAL 911 RIGHT NOW!!!http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/members/clipart/firstaid/Cpr2.gif <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/15/11/3ff95bcd-d75d-4653-8b77-c3a0d0b27bbb.Medium.gif" alt="" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div> </div>

silylene old · Jul 1, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>....but what is the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope or Keck AO images? 200 KM or there abouts??? It's good enough to make out rudimentary details, such as light & dark patches & perhaps some large craters, but that's about it.Finer detail like canyons, cryovolcanoes, small craters, etc, will remain invisible with current means, until DAWN arrives..... Posted by 3488</DIV>What would especially suprise me, but I am allowed to dream about:Perhaps we will find that Ceres has a little tiny moon too !  (one to small to see with Keck or Hubble...probably less than a 1 km size).And, maybe, just maybe, we can discover that Ceres has a dim ring encircling it ?  This could happen if it had a cryovolcano.  (one to dim to see with Keck or Hubble). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center">I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function. </div> </div>

Gregoire1960 · Jul 8, 2008

Any chance there will be higher resolution images of Ceres or Vesta after the impending Hubble upgrade?

MeteorWayne · Jul 8, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Any chance there will be higher resolution images of Ceres or Vesta after the impending Hubble upgrade? Posted by Gregoire1960</DIV> Good question. Don't know the answer, but I would suspect any improvement would be mimimal.It's worth checking out,though, and I will do so. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

Boris_Badenov · Jul 8, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Any chance there will be higher resolution images of Ceres or Vesta after the impending Hubble upgrade? Posted by Gregoire1960</DIV>I don't think they are upgrading it in the way necessary to see close objects better. Hubble is better at seeing really long distances. NASA Announces Details of Hubble Servicing Mission <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div> </div>

h2ouniverse · Jul 9, 2008

Hi Andrew and all, Another speculation about the potential aspect of Ceres high latitudes (from Iapetan terrain):Best regards <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/3/3/c3452589-bd91-46cc-8308-c7f428df9ec0.Medium.jpg" alt="" />

MeteorWayne · Jul 9, 2008

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Any chance there will be higher resolution images of Ceres or Vesta after the impending Hubble upgrade? Posted by Gregoire1960</DIV> OK, I did some checking. Higher resolution, no not really. What will,increase is the bandwidth of the wide field camera. The UV and IR ranges will be greatly increased. This may allow us to have a better idea of what materials are on the surface, but AFAIK, there will not be much, if any, increase in resolution. After all, the limiting factor in that is the mirror and corrective optics, which I supect are greater than the CCD pixel size. MW <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

MeteorWayne · Sep 15, 2008

No real news, just hasn't been an update in a while...UpdatesDawn Reaches Greatest Distance from the Sun for 2008 August 30, 2008 Dawn spent most of August continuing to thrust with its ion propulsion system. On August 8, it reached its greatest distance from the Sun this year of 1.68 times Earth's average distance from the Sun. For the rest of 2008, it will gradually travel closer to the Sun. The spacecraft's elliptical orbit will never bring it as close to the Sun as Earth's orbit. In 2009, it will resume moving away from the Sun. On August 26, the primary and backup science cameras were commanded to execute standard calibration procedures. The results verify that the cameras remain in good health. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/10/13/0aae35cf-5ccd-415c-9df4-9136d9d8e42f.Medium.jpg" alt="" />Original image and more here:http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/live_shots.asp <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

MeteorWayne · Oct 4, 2008

Bumped to the top for szkeptik <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

3488 · Oct 8, 2008

Details of DAWN Mars encounter in February 2009.Andrew Brown.  <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

MeteorWayne · Nov 4, 2008

A highly condensed verion of the blog update from Oct 30:The Dawn spacecraft continues on course and on schedule for its bold campaign to unexplored worlds. The probe is thrusting gently with its ion propulsion system, as it has been for most of its time in space, gradually modifying its path around the Sun. On September 29, as its own silent but joyous celebration of its first anniversary of being in space was winding down, the spacecraft stopped thrusting so that mission controllers could conduct routine maintenance on components in two of its subsystems: attitude control and ion propulsion. (Thrusting is suspended during these activities principally because the orientation in which the main antenna is aimed at Earth is different from the orientation required to point an ion thruster in the direction needed for changing the craft's course through space.) Attitude control is responsible for the orientation (known to engineers as "attitude") of the probe in the zero gravity of spaceflight. Despite its name, this subsystem is as pleasant a member of the onboard crew as any other. Ion propulsion, of course, reshapes the spacecraft's orbit so it will rendezvous with distant Vesta and Ceres and maneuver at each to obtain the precious scientific secrets they hold. Some of the work during this week was to verify that the contents of the computer memory in certain components remained intact. On September 30, engineers confirmed that the memory in each of the 2 ion propulsion computer control units was in good condition. On October 2, the backup star tracker was tested, and it also remains healthy and ready for use whenever needed. A star tracker helps the attitude control system determine the orientation of the spacecraft by imaging groups of stars and recognizing patterns, much as you might orient yourself on a dark, cloudless night if you were familiar with the constellations. In addition to performing maintenance on software, the mission control team needs to keep Dawn's hardware in peak condition. The three ion thrusters are mounted on separate mechanical apparatuses that allow each 8.9-kilogram (19.5-pound) thruster to be pointed accurately. These thruster gimbal assemblies, known as TGAs to team members who find themselves too busy to use entire words (such people are themselves known as being TBTUEW), need to have lubricant in their bearings redistributed occasionally. Even when a TGA is in use for an operating thruster (thruster #1 has been the active one since June), the usual motion is not enough to accomplish the needed spreading of lubricant. Therefore, all 3 TGAs were moved through a prescribed pattern, ensuring that they will be able to continue to operate smoothly and point correctly. Dawn is outfitted with four reaction wheels, devices whose spin is controlled electrically. Changing a wheel's spin rate allows the attitude control system to rotate the spacecraft. The wheels are mounted in different orientations, but any three are sufficient for normal operations. Wheel #3 has been off since May. On October 2, it was powered on again and wheel #2 was deactivated, beginning its turn as the backup. Gyroscopes, which will help attitude control perform the accurate pointing of science instruments at the two protoplanetary destinations, normally are turned off, as they are not needed for most of Dawn's assignments along the way. A few times each year they do need to be operated to ensure they remain in good condition. The last such time was in May. On September 29, the units were activated again, and they remained powered on until October 3. With all maintenance completed successfully, normal interplanetary thrusting resumed on October 3. Soon however, interplanetary thrusting will no longer be the norm. Some of the unusual principles of an interplanetary journey driven with ion propulsion were considered in a log written while Dawn was still gravitationally anchored to Earth. One essential characteristic of such missions is the long periods of thrusting, familiar now to those fortunate enough to have followed Dawn's progress since the beginning of the interplanetary cruise phase. But, thrusting is not required for the entire voyage; indeed, at some times thrusting is helpful to the mission and at other times it would be detrimental. Extensive analysis is devoted to computing the thrusting schedule, based on factors ranging from the physical characteristics of the solar system (e.g., the masses and orbits of Earth, Mars, Vesta, Ceres, and myriad other bodies) to the capabilities of the spacecraft (e.g., electrical power available to the ion thrusters) to constraints on when thrusting is not permitted (e.g., during spacecraft maintenance periods). <table border="0" cellspacing="0" class="imgright" style="width:272px"><tbody><tr><td>

DAWN mission to orbit 1 Ceres & 4 Vesta.

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