[meteorite-list] Dawn Opens its Eyes, Checks its Instruments

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:45:21 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201103222045.p2MKjLqm022084_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-089

Dawn Opens its Eyes, Checks its Instruments
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
March 21, 2011

After a hibernation of about six months, the framing cameras on board
NASA's Dawn spacecraft have again ventured a look into the stars. The
spacecraft also powered up its visible and infrared mapping
spectrometer, which investigates surface mineralogy, and the gamma ray
and neutron detector, which detects elemental composition. The
reactivation prepares the instruments for the May approach and July
arrival at Vesta, Dawn's first port of call in the asteroid belt.

"Last week, we gently 'woke up' Dawn's three science instruments, which
typically spend most of their time sleeping during the
three-and-a-half-year journey to Vesta," said Robert Mase, Dawn project
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "This
activity confirms that Dawn is on track for the first close examination
of one of the last unexplored worlds of the inner solar system."

The framing camera activities were led by scientists from the Max Planck
Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany. "The
camera system is working flawlessly. The dry run was a complete
success," said Andreas Nathues, lead investigator for the framing
camera, based at the Institute.

The international team of Dawn scientists and engineers in Germany and
the United States spent three days interacting with the camera system,
confirming the excellent health of the mechanical and electrical
components and updating the software.

In the months to come, the camera system will provide images needed to
navigate the spacecraft to its rendezvous with Vesta, and will begin to
image the asteroid's surface. These early images on approach will be the
start of a campaign to systematically map Vesta's surface in detail and
will provide tantalizing clues as to its mineralogical composition. In
addition, the framing cameras will search for moons in Vesta's vicinity
and look for evidence of past volcanic activity.

The full release on the framing camera from Max Planck is available at:
http://www.mps.mpg.de/en/aktuelles/pressenotizen/pressenotiz_20110321.html .

The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Dawn
mission is part of the Discovery Program managed by NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall
Dawn mission science. The framing cameras have been developed and built
under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System
Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, with significant contributions by
DLR German Aerospace Center, Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin,
and in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication
Network Engineering, Braunschweig. The framing camera project is funded
by the Max Planck Society, DLR, and NASA. The visible and infrared
mapping spectrometer was provided by the Italian Space Agency and is
operated by Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics in collaboration
with Galileo Avionica, where it was built. The gamma ray and neutron
detector was built by Los Alamos National Laboratory and is operated by
the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Ariz.

Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jia-rui.c.cook at jpl.nasa.gov
Birgit Krummheuer 011 49 5556 979 462
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
krummheuer at msp.mpg.de

2011-089
Received on Tue 22 Mar 2011 04:45:21 PM PDT