Airtist's renderin o the Dawn spacecraft. | |
Mission teep | Multi-target orbiter |
---|---|
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 2007-043A |
SATCAT no. | 32249 |
Wabsteix | NASA NASA JPL |
Mission duration | ~9 years[1] |
Spacecraft properties | |
Manufacturer | Orbital Sciences · JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) · UCLA (Varsity o Californie, Los Angeles) |
BOL mass | 1,240 kg (2,730 lb) (wet)[2] |
Pouer | 1300 W (Solar array) at 3 AU[2] |
Stairt o mission | |
Launch date | 27 September 2007UTC[3] (16 years, 10 months and 9 days ago) | 11:34:00
Rocket | Delta II 7925H |
Launch steid | Cape Canaveral SLC-17B |
Fleebi o Mars (Gravity assist) | |
Closest approach | 17 Februar 2009 (15 years, 5 months and 19 days ago) |
Distance | 549 km (341 mi) |
4 Vesta orbiter | |
Orbital insertion | 16 Julie 2011[4] (13 years and 20 days ago) | 04:47 UTC
Departit orbit | 5 September 2012 (11 years and 11 months ago) |
1 Ceres orbiter | |
Orbital insertion | 6 Mairch 2015[5] |
Dawn mission patch Discovery program |
Dawn is a space probe launched bi NASA in September 2007 wi the mission o studyin twa o the three kent protoplanets o the asteroid belt, Vesta an Ceres. It is currently in orbit aboot its seicont tairget, the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn is the first spacecraft tae orbit twa extraterrestrial bouks,[6] the first spacecraft tae veesit either Vesta or Ceres, an an aa the first tae visit a dwarf planet, arrivin at Ceres in Mairch 2015, a few months afore New Horizons flew by Pluto in Julie 2015.
Dawn entered Vesta orbit on Julie 16, 2011, an completit a 14-month survey mission afore leavin for Ceres in late 2012.[7][8]