[meteorite-list] Orbital Selected By JPL For $80 Million Contract To Design and Build Dawn Spacecraft

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:40 2004
Message-ID: <200201041841.KAA18851_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.orbital.com/Template.php?Section=News&NavMenuID=32&template=PressReleaseDisplay.php&PressReleaseID=347

 
Orbital Sciences Corporation
January 4, 2002

Contact: Barron Beneski, (703) 406-5000, beneski.barron_at_orbital.com

ORBITAL SELECTED BY JPL FOR $80 MILLION CONTRACT TO DESIGN AND BUILD
FIRST MAIN-BELT ASTEROID SPACECRAFT

NASA-Sponsored Dawn Mission to Journey to Solar System's Two Largest
"Baby Planets"

(Dulles, VA 3 January 2002) -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB)
has been selected to develop and build the first spacecraft designed to
orbit main-belt asteroids, the company announced today. The Dawn mission,
selected by NASA as the next project in its Discovery program of
lower-cost interplanetary probes, is scheduled for launch in 2006 on a
nine-year voyage to orbit the solar system's two largest asteroids, Ceres
and Vesta. By observing these "baby planets," located between Mars and
Jupiter some 250 million miles (400 million kilometers) from the Sun,
Dawn will improve our understanding of how planets formed to create the
solar system billions of years ago. Orbital is the industry partner on
the Dawn mission team, led by Dr. Christopher T. Russell of the
University of California at Los Angeles and managed by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Under an $80 million contract to JPL, Orbital will design, manufacture,
integrate and test the Dawn spacecraft and support its launch and flight
operations. "Orbital is thrilled and honored to be chosen as JPL's
industry partner for such an important space exploration mission," said
Mr. David W. Thompson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "As the
company's first planetary spacecraft, Dawn is a very exciting opportunity
for us to extend and apply the Earth-orbiting satellite technologies and
know-how we developed and used on over 75 spacecraft in the past decade
to a new type of space mission. We are looking forward to working with
JPL, the world leader in interplanetary missions, to ensure that Dawn
achieves its full scientific goals," he added.

The Dawn spacecraft will draw on extensive design heritage and
operational experience from Orbital's LEOStar low-orbit satellites and
the company's StarBus geosynchronous-orbit platforms. It also will
incorporate JPL's solar-electric (ion) propulsion system and deep-space
communications link. The spacecraft will weigh about 2,750 pounds (1,245
kilograms) at launch and will generate approximately 8 kilowatts of solar
power at Earth's distance from the Sun. The Dawn spacecraft's core
structure will measure about six feet (two meters) high, while its solar
arrays will span almost 70 feet (21 meters) in length.

Dawn is scheduled for a mid-2006 launch by a Boeing Delta rocket,
beginning its nine-year journey through the asteroid belt during which it
will rendezvous with Vesta (in 2010) and Ceres (in 2014), orbiting from
as high as 500 miles (800 kilometers) to as low as 60 miles (100
kilometers) above their surfaces.

"Ceres and Vesta are two of the largest unexplored worlds in our solar
system. We'll learn about early planet formation in ways that wouldn't
have been possible before this mission," said Ms. Sarah Gavit, JPL's
Project Manager for the Dawn mission. She also noted that the Dawn
spacecraft will employ a high-performance ion rocket engine for its
primary propulsion to the asteroid belt, a new technology pioneered by
JPL on NASA's Deep Space 1 mission. "I'm ecstatic that we'll have such a
great opportunity to show what ion propulsion can do," she added.

Dawn's principal investigator, Dr. Russell of UCLA, will lead a
government/industry team consisting of JPL, Orbital, NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center, Germany's DLR space agency, the Department of Energy's Los
Alamos National Laboratory and the Institute for Space Astrophysics in
Rome in carrying out the mission.

About NASA's Discovery Program

The Discovery program emphasizes lower-cost, highly-focused scientific
missions. The past Discovery missions are NEAR Shoemaker, Mars Pathfinder
and Lunar Prospector, all of which successfully completed their missions.
Additional Discovery missions include Stardust and Genesis, which are now
in space, and CONTOUR, Deep Impact and MESSENGER, scheduled for 2002,
2004 and 2004 launches, respectively.

About the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
CA, manages the Dawn mission for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington, D.C.

About Orbital

Orbital develops and manufactures affordable space systems, including
satellites, launch vehicles, electronics and advanced space systems. More
information about Orbital can be found at http://www.orbital.com

Note to editors: A high-resolution (300+ d.p.i.) artist's rendering of
the Dawn spacecraft is available on Orbital's web site at

http://www.orbital.com/Media/Images/Satellites/
Received on Fri 04 Jan 2002 01:41:00 PM PST