[meteorite-list] Dawn Gets Extra Time to Explore Vesta

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:52:38 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201204182152.q3ILqcix024704_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-107

Dawn Gets Extra Time to Explore Vesta
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
April 18, 2012

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Dawn mission has received official
confirmation that 40 extra days have been added to its exploration of
the giant asteroid Vesta, the second most massive object in the main
asteroid belt. The mission extension allows Dawn to continue its
scientific observations at Vesta until Aug. 26, while still arriving at
the dwarf planet Ceres at the same originally scheduled target date in
February 2015.

"We are leveraging our smooth and successful operations at Vesta to
provide for even more scientific discoveries for NASA and the world."
said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager based at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "This extra time will allow us to extend
our scientific investigation and learn more about this mysterious world."

The extension will not require any new funding, and will draw on
financial reserves that have been carefully managed by the Dawn project.
The flexibility provided by the spacecraft's use of efficient ion
propulsion system allows it to maintain its originally planned Ceres
arrival.

The extension allows for extra observations at Dawn's current
low-altitude mapping orbit (average altitude 130 miles or 210
kilometers), which will now last until May 1. The additional time
enables the gamma ray and neutron detector to build the best possible
maps of the elemental composition of Vesta's surface and improve data
for the gravity experiment, the two primary scientific investigations at
the low-altitude orbit. The spacecraft's camera and spectrometer are
also obtaining additional high-resolution images.

Additional time will also be spent in the planned second high-altitude
mapping orbit later this summer. When Dawn arrived at Vesta in July
2011, much of the northern hemisphere was in shadow. But with the
passage of time, more of that area will bask in sunshine.

"Dawn has beamed back to us such dazzling Vestan vistas that we are
happy to stay a little longer and learn more about this special world,"
said Christopher Russell, Dawn's principal investigator at UCLA. "While
we have this one-of-a-kind opportunity to orbit Vesta, we want to make
the best and most complete datasets that we can."

Dawn's mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program,
managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. UCLA
is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp.
in 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
international partners on the mission team.

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

Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jccook at jpl.nasa.gov

2012-107
Received on Wed 18 Apr 2012 05:52:38 PM PDT