DAWN mission to orbit 1 Ceres & 4 Vesta.

Archer17 · Feb 19, 2009

Excellent posts MeteorWayne & 3488. Thanks for taking the time to post those updates. [insert 'thumbs up' emoticon here] <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

3488 · Feb 19, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Excellent posts MeteorWayne & 3488. Thanks for taking the time to post those updates. [insert 'thumbs up' emoticon here] Posted by Archer17</DIV>You are very welcome Archer17. You can call me Andrew. I was personally involved in the campaign to prevent the cancellation of this mission.One thing that bothers me is the lack of any news what so ever since DAWN was supposed to have slewed & point the HGA to Earth to perform the first download.Hopefully all is OK.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>

Boris_Badenov · Feb 20, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Excellent posts MeteorWayne & 3488. Thanks for taking the time to post those updates. [insert 'thumbs up' emoticon here] Posted by Archer17</DIV> <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/8/8/68094bda-ef79-4655-a883-23081f9419f3.Medium.gif" alt="" />Indeed, thank you very much. I can hardly wait for the pix myself. Has there been any word on when we can expect to see them? Also, do we know where on Mars the pix are from? It would be nice if they got a pic of one of the surface craft.  <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>

MeteorWayne · Feb 20, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Indeed, thank you very much. I can hardly wait for the pix myself. Has there been any word on when we can expect to see them? Also, do we know where on Mars the pix are from? It would be nice if they got a pic of one of the surface craft.  Posted by boris1961</DIV> No word yet on when pictures will be released. Dawn has another pre Vesta test to condust as it travels away from Mars, so there may be a delay, I'm just not sure.There will be no pictures of any landers, Dawn was screaming by Mars at a very high rate, with imagers not designed for that task (also on the nightside IIRC). That's why the best images will be of Mars as Dawn departed. It's far enough away to not be moving very fast, and dim enough to not overwhelm the detectors. Remember, the camaeras were designed for a much fainter environment than Mars

<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 · Feb 21, 2009

I am very honoured to bring here the:First image of Mars from DAWN released, showing the Tempe Terra area, <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/4/13/646a0ef0-723b-4fa0-8d85-73045498717b.Medium.jpg" alt="" />The image above was taken using the Primary Framing Camera, the same one that will be used to image the entire surfaces of 4 Vesta & 1 Ceres (assuming it does not pack up & the back up one takes over). Area shown is approx 55 KM / 34 miles across. Looking very good. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/0/0/b02cf8f6-1e25-4342-8058-7d6f294624ef.Medium.gif" 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>

silylene · Feb 21, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I am very honoured to bring here the:First image of Mars from DAWN released, showing the Tempe Terra area, The image above was taken using the Primary Framing Camera, the same one that will be used to image the entire surfaces of 4 Vesta & 1 Ceres (assuming it does not pack up & the back up one takes over). Area shown is approx 55 KM / 34 miles across. Looking very good. Andrew Brown. Posted by 3488</DIV> YEAH!   It is looking very good. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> petet = silylenePlease, please give me my handle back ! </div>

3488 · Feb 21, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>YEAH!   It is looking very good. Posted by petet</DIV>Indeed silylene, I am thrilled to bits with it, the resolution is approx 70 metres per pixel (my guess) in that shot. DAWN will be much closer to 1 Ceres & 4 Vesta during much of the primary mission.Hopefully more will be released soon, including the Mars Rotation departure movie, but that is a great image none the less, it's orbiter quality, yet this was quite a quick pass.As Wayne said a few posts back, DAWN is designed for darker conditions than this in the Asteroid Belt, but this proves the one of the main instruments onboard DAWN is up to the tasks awaiting @ 4 Vesta & 1 Ceres.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 · Feb 21, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I am very honoured to bring here the:First image of Mars from DAWN released, showing the Tempe Terra area, The image above was taken using the Primary Framing Camera, the same one that will be used to image the entire surfaces of 4 Vesta & 1 Ceres (assuming it does not pack up & the back up one takes over). Area shown is approx 55 KM / 34 miles across. Looking very good. Andrew Brown. Posted by 3488</DIV> Thanx Andrew. Here's the image caption for context:This near-infrared image from the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft was taken near the point of closest approach to Mars on Feb. 17, 2009, during Dawn's gravity assist flyby. The image, taken for calibration purposes, shows a portion of the fretted and cratered northwest margin of Tempe Terra, Mars. The scarp of the highlands/ lowlands boundary is illuminated by the light of dawn, and traces of fog appear in the lower portion. The area covered by the image is about 55 kilometers (34 miles) across. <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>

nimbus · Feb 21, 2009

Does anyone know if there is/are pictures of this same spot taken with the Mars orbiters?  For comparison, out of curiosity.. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

MeteorWayne · Feb 21, 2009

Replying to: <DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Does anyone know if there is/are pictures of this same spot taken with the Mars orbiters?  For comparison, out of curiosity.. Posted by nimbus</DIV> In the materials released so far, there's no indication of where it is. I've briefly looked for it in Mars images, but it's a pretty small area and I haven't found a match yet... <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 · Feb 25, 2009

From Emily Lakdawallas Planetary Society Blog:There's been no press release on how Dawn's recent flyby of Mars went, so finally I inquired at JPL for an update. Marc Rayman provided the following: "The gravity assist went perfectly. We will have the final navigation reconstruction near the end of this week, but the preliminary results show that the spacecraft's trajectory was extremely close to our predictions. Now it is great to have Mars behind us and Vesta now ever more clearly ahead." Marc's usual Dawn Journal is due in only a few days, so we should have lots more detail shortly. http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001855/ <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 · Feb 27, 2009

Re:

Thank you very much Wayne.

I have been having technical issues with my connection lately (not ill health this time), hense my short absense. I think I'm back now & all appears to be up & running. Like the new forum software very much.

Well done DH.

I have just checked the DAWN & JPL sites for further updates, but there are none as yet. Looking forward to seeing some of the high latitude southern departure images, Mars seen from a very unusual angle.

Anyway, it's great to be back (again).

Andrew Brown.

3488 · Mar 1, 2009

It looks like the original post encounter report may not have been entirely correct.

DAWN did go into safing shortly after periareion suspending observations for approx 48 hours.

However, DAWN is in great health, the encounter successfully placed DAWN on the same plane as 4 Vesta as intended & it still looks as if DAWN did make more observations than released so far, although if the 48 hour downtime figure is correct, the Mars departure movie was not obtained.

Update here.

Andrew Brown.

MeteorWayne · Sep 21, 2009

It's been quite a while since an update...less than 2 years to Vesta arrival... (Approx 703 days)

Dawn Maintains Steady Thrust to Vesta
August 31, 2009
Dawn devoted most of August to ion thrusting, as it will for most of the next two years leading to the rendezvous with Vesta. Controllers conducted routine maintenance on an ion thruster gimbal, reaction wheels, and gyroscopes this month.

MeteorWayne · Oct 2, 2009

Sept 27th update.

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/journal_9_27_09.asp

"In its interplanetary travels, the spacecraft has thrust for a total of about 389 days, or 53% of the time (and about 0.000000008% of the time since the Big Bang). While for most spacecraft, firing a thruster to change course is a special event, it is Dawn’s wont. All this thrusting has cost the craft only 103 kilograms (228 pounds) of its supply of xenon propellant, which was 425 kilograms (937 pounds) on September 27, 2007.

The thrusting so far in the mission has achieved the equivalent of accelerating the probe by 2.62 kilometers per second (5870 miles per hour). As previous logs have described, because of the principles of motion for orbital flight, whether around the Sun or any other gravitating body, Dawn is not actually traveling this much faster than when it launched. But the effective change in speed remains a useful measure of the effect of any spacecraft’s propulsive work. Having accomplished only one-fifth of the thrust time planned for its entire mission, Dawn has already far exceeded the velocity change achieved by most spacecraft."

Due to better calibration of the solar array available power, more thrusting time has been available. As a result:

"The probe will be able to reach Vesta about 6 weeks earlier than had previously been planned. Moreover, the newfound capability will enable the craft to travel from Vesta to Ceres more quickly, so the deadline for leaving the first world to reach the second on schedule in 2015 is about 6 weeks later. Together, these changes allow the explorer to increase its planned 9-month stay at Vesta to 12 months."

Orbnital Info:

Minimum distance from the Sun (AU) : perihelion
Maximum distance from the Sun (AU) : aphelion
Angle from Earth’s orbit

Dawn's orbit on Sept. 27, 2007
(before launch, i.e. earth's orbit)
0.98 AU
1.02 AU
0.0°

Dawn's orbit on Sept. 27, 2007 (after launch)
1.00 AU
1.62 AU
0.6°

Dawn's orbit on Sept. 27, 2008
1.21 AU
1.68 AU
1.4°

Dawn's orbit on Sept. 27, 2009
1.42 AU
1.87 AU
6.2°

Vesta's orbit
2.15 AU
2.57 AU
7.1°

Ceres's orbit
2.54 AU
2.99 AU
10.6°

MeteorWayne · Nov 4, 2009

I decided today to do a catch up on this mission, and lo and behold, TPS had an update from Monday:

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002188/

Excerpts:

"Dawn Journal: Taking up residence in the asteroid belt...

Dawn continues to make steady progress on its journey through the solar system. The spacecraft has devoted another month to thrusting with its ion propulsion system, ever with its sights set on its rendezvous with Vesta in July 2011. While it will have other assignments along the way, propelling itself to the giant protoplanet deep in the main asteroid belt remains its principal responsibility...

On November 13, it will enter the asteroid belt as its silent flight takes it past 1.666 AU from the Sun. It will remain in the belt for the rest of its mission and well beyond. Dawn will become a permanent inhabitant of that part of the solar system, the first emissary from Earth to take up residence in the main asteroid belt....

It has racked up more than 10,000 hours of powered flight, with much more thrusting ahead."

MeteorWayne · Nov 27, 2009

NASA's Dawn spacecraft re-entered our solar system's asteroid belt today, Nov. 13, and this time it will stay there.

Dawn first entered the belt (whose lower boundary may be defined as the greatest distance Mars gets from the sun (249,230,000 kilometers, or 154,864,000 miles) in June 2008. It remained within the belt for 40 days before its carefully planned orbital path brought it below the asteroid belt's lower boundary.

This time around, Dawn's flight path will remain above this hypothetical lower boundary for the rest of the mission and for the foreseeable future - Dawn will become the first human-made object to take up permanent residence in the asteroid belt.

The mission of the 1,098-kilogram (2,421-pound) Dawn spacecraft is to reconnoiter Vesta and Ceres, the asteroid belt's two most massive inhabitants -- the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres. The goal of this eight-year, 4.9-billion-kilometer (3-billion-mile) mission is to answer basic questions about the formation of planets in our solar system. NASA's unmanned Dawn spacecraft will be the first ever to orbit two planetary bodies on a single voyage. Dawn is 619 days away from arrival at its first celestial objective, asteroid Vesta.

For more information on Dawn please visit: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/

605 days to Vesta arrival!

EarthlingX · Dec 2, 2009

Here's a cheat picture for inpatient:

Picture is from Celestia with Ceres and Dawn add-ons.

Couldn't find Vesta's map for texture

EarthlingX · Dec 4, 2009

Here are some more Celestia pictures, starting with a 'Meeting at Mars' :
"Rosetta, i presume ?"

Vesta approach, a bit later:

and farewell .. !

Are these dates accurate ?

Vesta texture is originally from Hubble, model is NASA, i think.

MeteorWayne · Dec 4, 2009

Dawn is scheduled to orbit Vesta from August 2011 to May 2012, and arrive at Ceres in July 2015.

EarthlingX · Dec 5, 2009

Close enough. Darn, i was circling in the asteroid belt whole afternoon and evening over a couple of years in both directions

I apologize for not reading this thread from the beginning, it's kinda historic already

Will do, to avoid annoying you folx with already answered questions, but just this:
There's a plenty of other rocks zipping by Dawn, while it stays in that asteroid soup, is there a plan to check any more of them ? Could they do it, i mean fuel and such ?

MeteorWayne · Dec 5, 2009

Actually, there aren't any other known asteroids that they will pass near. Contrary to the popular image of the asteroid belt as a crowded freeway with rocks all over the place, the distance between asteroids is enormous.

The Dawn Mission is dedicated to Vests and Ceres, 2 of the 3 largest objects (Ceres is a dwarf planet) in the belt. After the primary mission is completed in 2015, they will probably have the option of continuing to orbit Ceres, or possibly visiting another if one comes close enough in a favorable orbit during the craft's lifetime.

Of course if a new asteroid is discovered that they would pass near on the way, they might make a small diversion to do a flyby.

3488 · Dec 5, 2009

Thanks you all for the updates. I love Earthling's renderings.

Whilst the dates are not quite correct (they were had DAWN followed the original schedule). the represemttions IMO are are impressive & scientifically accurate, based on the information to hand.

Regarding other encounters on route, it seems unlikely with the information to hand. Unlike the Galileo Spacecraft bound for Jupiter (which encountered 951 Gaspra & 243 Ida, both S Types, the first ever asteroid encounters & they were superb firsts, Galileo did a superb job at both) or the NEAR / Shoemaker bound for Amor asteroid 433 Eros, gave us our first decent views of a C Type, the asteroid 253 Mathilde, both craft had room for maneuvering from the optimum as both had sufficient fuel margins.

DAWN is different. Whist the Ion propulsion is extrememly efficient, it is slow & cumbersome, any meaningful deviation would have to be planned well in advance.

There is a chance that DAWN could make a slow close flyby of the gigantic. almost dwarf planet sized. asteroid 2 Pallas, in December 2018 following an extended mission at 1 Ceres. I am going to start a campaign for that assuming the primary mission goals are met & DAWN is still in good enough shape to continue.

I hope I can count on the support of memebership here, for such a thing. I know members H20universe, Jon Clarke, MeteorWayne, Silylene & Yevaud would would be very interested for sure.

SIlly thought just occured to me. Now that DAWN is a permanent member of the Asteroid Belt, perhaps the spacecraft could be designated an Asteroid number!!!!!!! :mrgreen:

Andrew Brown.

3488 · Dec 5, 2009

MeteorWayne":3aembkuq said:
Actually, there aren't any other known asteroids that they will pass near. Contrary to the popular image of the asteroid belt as a crowded freeway with rocks all over the place, the distance between asteroids is enormous.

The Dawn Mission is dedicated to Vests and Ceres, 2 of the 3 largest objects (Ceres is a dwarf planet) in the belt. After the primary mission is completed in 2015, they will probably have the option of continuing to orbit Ceres, or possibly visiting another if one comes close enough in a favorable orbit during the craft's lifetime.

Of course if a new asteroid is discovered that they would pass near on the way, they might make a small diversion to do a flyby.

That's very true Wayne. Many people have the false impression that the Asteroid Belt is a mealstrom of tumbling boulders, etc as depicted bt the asteroid field in the film Stars Wars, The Empire Strikes Back. IMO that film is one of the root causes of the misinterpretaion of the asteroid belt in many peoples minds. In fact the Asteroids are very well spaced apart indeed, the Asteroid Belt is indeed mostly empty space.

I agree Wayne that there will be no close encounters prior to 4 Vesta orbital insertion, though as you say, we could well strike lucky & find one that DAWN could encounter in the meantime.

Andrew Brown.

EarthlingX · Dec 5, 2009

3488, I'm glad you like those pictures, but i'm certain you can do much^x better, as much as i have seen

Please check Celestia, it's free, you gonna love it

Yes, i'm aware that asteroid belt is not very Star Wars like, but after adding information for NEO-s and some more asteroids in Celestia, it gets pretty busy.
This is a sample, from more or less current time, grid is ecliptic, red names on asteroids, green marks for Vesta, Ceres and Pallas.

I think this is about 610 000 km (380 000 miles) away, and that was not the closest for this rock.

Some more:

Three asteroids closer to Dawn than Mars now:

Whole mess:

How close is close ?

Oh, and how can i help to extend this mission ?

DAWN mission to orbit 1 Ceres & 4 Vesta.

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