[meteorite-list] NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Enters Orbit Around Asteroid Vesta

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:59:28 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201107180259.p6I2xSg6007634_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-212

NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Enters Orbit Around Asteroid Vesta
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
July 16, 2011

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Dawn spacecraft on Saturday became the first
probe ever to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter.

Dawn will study the asteroid, named Vesta, for a year before departing
for a second destination, a dwarf planet named Ceres, in July 2012.
Observations will provide unprecedented data to help scientists
understand the earliest chapter of our solar system. The data also will
help pave the way for future human space missions.

"Today, we celebrate an incredible exploration milestone as a spacecraft
enters orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt for the first
time," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "Dawn's study of the
asteroid Vesta marks a major scientific accomplishment and also points
the way to the future destinations where people will travel in the
coming years. President Obama has directed NASA to send astronauts to an
asteroid by 2025, and Dawn is gathering crucial data that will inform
that mission."

The spacecraft relayed information to confirm it entered Vesta's orbit,
but the precise time this milestone occurred is unknown at this time.
The time of Dawn's capture depended on Vesta's mass and gravity, which
only has been estimated until now. The asteroid's mass determines the
strength of its gravitational pull. If Vesta is more massive, its
gravity is stronger, meaning it pulled Dawn into orbit sooner. If the
asteroid is less massive, its gravity is weaker and it would have taken
the spacecraft longer to achieve orbit. With Dawn now in orbit, the
science team can take more accurate measurements of Vesta's gravity and
gather more accurate timeline information.

Dawn, which launched in September 2007, is on track to become the first
spacecraft to orbit two solar system destinations beyond Earth. The
mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for the agency's Science Mission
Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's
Discovery Program, which is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The University of California, Los Angeles, is responsible for the
overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.,
designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max
Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and
the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are part of the mission's
team. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena.

For information about the Dawn mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/dawn
and http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov .

To follow the mission on Twitter, visit: http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Dawn .

Priscilla Vega 818-354-1357
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Priscilla.r.vega at jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne C. Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

2011-212
Received on Sun 17 Jul 2011 10:59:28 PM PDT