[meteorite-list] Dawn Journal - February 27, 2017

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2017 15:07:23 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201703032307.v23N7Nkc017874_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/journal_02_27_17.html

Dawn Journal
Dr. Marc Rayman
February 27, 2017

Dear Pedawntic Readers,

A sophisticated spaceship in orbit around an alien world has been firing
its advanced ion engine to execute complex and elegant orbital acrobatics.
On assignment from Earth at dwarf planet Ceres, Dawn is performing like
the ace flier that it is.

The spacecraft's activities are part of an ambitious bonus goal the
team has recently devised for the extended mission. Dawn will maneuver
to a location exactly on the line connecting Ceres and the sun and take
pictures and spectra there. Measuring the opposition surge we explained
last month will help scientists gain insight into the microscopic nature
of the famous bright material in Occator Crater. Flying to that special
position and acquiring the pictures and spectra will consume most of the
rest of the extended mission, which concludes on June 30.

This month, we will look at the probe's intricate maneuvers. Next
month, we will delve more into the opposition surge itself, and in April
we will describe Dawn's detailed plans for photography and spectroscopy.
In May we will discuss further maneuvers that could provide a backup opportunity
for observing the opposition surge in June.


[Image of Ernutet Crater]

This image combines several photographs of Ernutet Crater taken through
different color filters in Dawn's science camera. (Ernutet was an
Egyptian goddess, often depicted with the head of a cobra, who provided
food and protected grains by eating pests such as rodents.) The colors
have been enhanced to bring out subtle differences in the chemical composition
of the material covering the ground that would not be visible to your
unaided eye (even assuming your unaided eye were in the vicinity of Ceres).
Using data acquired by the spacecraft's infrared mapping spectrometer,
scientists have determined that the red regions are rich in organic compounds.
The organic molecules are based on chains of carbon atoms and represent
a class of chemicals important in biochemistry. Such a finding, along
with Dawn's earlier discoveries of ice and other chemicals that likely
were formed through interactions with water, makes Ceres very interesting
for studies of astrobiology. Nevertheless, future colonists on Ceres would
be expected to have little need for protection from native pestilential
threats. The 32-mile (52-kilometer) Ernutet Crater is on this map at 53?N,
46?E.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

First, however, it is worth recalling that this is not Dawn's primary
responsibility, which is to continue to measure cosmic rays in order to
improve scientists' ability to establish the atomic species down
to about a yard (meter) underground. Sensing the space radiation requires
the spacecraft to stay more than 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) above
the dwarf planet that is its gravitational master. The gamma ray and neutron
detector will be operated continuously as Dawn changes its orbit and then
performs the new observations. The ongoing high-priority radiation measurements
will not be affected by the new plans.

The principal objective of the orbital maneuvers is to swivel Dawn's
orbit around Ceres. Imagine looking down on Ceres' north pole, with
the sun far to the left. (To help your imagination, you might refer to
this figure from last month. As we will explain in May, Dawn's orbital
plane is slowly rotating clockwise, according to plan, and it is now even
closer to vertical than depicted in January. That does not affect the
following discussion.) From your perspective, looking edge-on at Dawn's
orbit, its elliptical path looks like a line, just as does a coin seen
from the edge. In its current orbit (labeled 6 in that figure), Dawn moves
from the bottom to the top over the north pole. When it is over the south
pole, on the other side of the orbit, it flies from the top of the figure
back to the bottom. The purpose of the current maneuvering is to make
Dawn travel instead from the left to the right over the north pole (and
from the right to the left over the south pole). This is equivalent to
rotating the plane of the orbit around the axis that extends through Ceres'
poles and up to Dawn's altitude. From the sun's perspective,
Dawn starts by revolving counterclockwise and the orbit is face-on. We
want to turn it so it is edge-on to the sun.

That may not sound very difficult. After all, it amounts mostly to turning
right at the north pole or left at the south pole. Spaceships in science
fiction do that all the time (although sometimes they turn right at the
south pole). However, it turns out to be extremely difficult in reality,
not to mention lacking the cool sounds. When going over the south pole,
from the top of the figure to the bottom, the spacecraft has momentum
in that direction. To turn, it needs to cancel that out and then develop
momentum to the left. That requires a great deal of work. It is energetically
expensive. Fortunately, the ever-resourceful flight team has an affordable
way.

As we discuss this more, we will present three diagrams of the trajectory.
It may be challenging to follow Dawn's three-dimensional motion on
two-dimensional figures, especially if you are not accustomed to reading
such depictions. Don' worry! The team has it all under control,
and it works. But consider that however complicated the figures seem,
designing and flying the maneuvers is somewhat more complicated. Nevertheless,
if you want to try, it might help to try to reproduce Dawn's movements
with your finger as you read the text and study the illustrations. (And
if the figures are not helpful for understanding the trajectory, they
may at least serve as fun optical illusions, as they did for one member
of the test audience.)

[Orbit Trajectory]

This shows how Dawn is changing its orbit in order to accomplish the opposition
surge measurements. The perspective here is close to that of the figure
from last month but shifted a little away from the north pole so you don't
see the orbit exactly along the edge. (As noted above, Dawn's orbit
has rotated slightly and is now more vertical than shown in January.)
With the sun far to the left, the spacecraft starts in the vertical green
orbit (known as extended mission orbit 3, or XMO3). When it is just to
the left of Ceres, it is over the south pole, farther from you than the
plane of the figure and traveling toward the bottom. Then the orbit takes
it through your monitor, and it is closer to you as it skirts to the right
of Ceres, over the north pole. The blue (which we'll get to in a
moment) obscures the right half of that green ellipse. The horizontal
green orbit is the destination, and the plus sign shows where Dawn will
be when it conducts the new observations. At that point, it will be on
the line from Occator Crater to the sun. To maneuver to that new orbit,
Dawn will follow the blue trajectory, thrusting with its ion engine where
the trajectory is solid and coasting where it is dashed. As explained
in the text in more detail, the spacecraft uses the first two thrusting
segments (the solid vertical sections) to raise its orbital altitude.
After the second one, Dawn's orbit carries it to greater and greater
heights. As it flies the arc at the top of the picture, it is receding
from you, on the other side of the plane of this diagram, beyond your
computer screen. It is not yet at its highest altitude, although it appears
that way here because of the foreshortening of a two-dimensional figure.
It is still ascending. When it does reach its highest altitude, it executes
the third thrusting segment to accomplish the turn. Then with one more
short thrust period (on the left of the figure), it reaches the desired
new orbit. Dawn is flying north (and approaching you) when it reaches
the plus sign. The two figures below show the same trajectory from different
perspectives.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Suppose you are driving from north to south and want to turn east at an
intersection. You have to decrease your southward (forward) velocity somehow;
otherwise, you will continue moving in that direction. You also have to
increase your eastward (left) velocity, which initially is zero. That
means putting on the brakes and then turning the wheel and reaccelerating,
which takes work. (If you're a stunt driver in the movies, it also
may mean making smoke come out near the tires.) With your car, there are
two major forces at work: the engine and the friction between the wheels
and the road. For a spacecraft, the forces available are the propulsion
system and the gravity of other bodies (like moons). Ceres' only
moon is Dawn itself, and there are no other helpful gravitational forces,
so it's all up to the probe's ion engine.

Dawn was not built to perform these new maneuvers. The main tank and the
xenon propellant loaded in it shortly before the spacecraft launched from
Cape Canaveral did not account for such an addition to the interplanetary
itinerary. The plan was to travel from Earth past Mars to Vesta, enter
orbit and maneuver around the protoplanet, then break out of orbit and
travel to Ceres, slip into orbit, and maneuver there. Dawn has now done
all that with great distinction and already moved around more while orbiting
Ceres than originally planned. Indeed, the mission has accomplished far,
far more propulsive flight than any other, but now its xenon supply is
very low. Navigators needed an efficient way to swivel the spacecraft's
orbit, and that meant finding an efficient way to change the direction
of its orbital motion.

An orbit is the perfect balance between the inward tug of gravity and
the fundamental tendency of free objects to travel in a straight line.
Orbital velocity thus depends on the strength of the gravitational pull.
At low altitude, orbiting objects travel faster than at higher altitude.
(We have considered this topic in some detail, including with examples,
several times before.) Dawn is flying to a very high altitude, where Ceres'
grip will not be as strong so the orbital velocity will naturally be much
lower and therefore easier to change. Then it will turn left and swoop
back down for the photo op. Any hotshot spaceship pilot would be proud
to fly the same profile.
framing camera

[Ceres Image]

Dawn took this photo of Ceres on Feb. 11 from XMO3 at an altitude of about
4,700 miles (7,500 kilometers). Most striking are the reflections from
Cerealia Facula (the brightest region, at the center of the crater) and
Vinalia Faculae (the grouping to the right), sodium carbonates concentrated
in Occator Crater. The salt was left behind when the water it had been
dissolved in sublimated. Sodium carbonates have been found at only three
solar system bodies: Ceres, Earth, and Saturn's moon Enceladus. Visible
in profile on the limb at the right, only slightly higher in the picture
than Occator, is the cryovolcano Ahuna Mons. From this distance, it is
not very prominent, but the towering mountain is the tallest structure
on the dwarf planet. You can locate this scene on this map using these
two features. Occator is at 20?N, 239?E, and Ahuna Mons is at 11?S, 316?E.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

In December 2016, Dawn reached extended mission orbit 3 (XMO3), which
ranged in altitude between 4,670 miles (7,520 kilometers) and 5,810 miles
(9,350 kilometers). Now the spacecraft is climbing, and it will peak at
more than 32,000 miles (52,000 kilometers) in early April when it will
pivot the orbit almost 90 degrees. It will then glide down to about 12,400
miles (20,000 kilometers) for the targeted observations.

The maneuvering will be conducted in four stages. The first part of the
ion powered ascent was Feb. 22-26, and the next will be March 8-12 when
the orbital position is optimal. Although the spacecraft will stop thrusting
then at an altitude of 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers), it will have built
up so much momentum that it will continue soaring upward for almost a
month as Ceres' gravitational attraction slows its down. (Dawn uses
that pull as a means of putting on the brakes to reduce the forward momentum.)
A third period of thrusting on April 3-14 at the apex of its arc will
accomplish the turn. Dawn will then be in an orbit that will intersect
the line between Occator Crater and the sun on April 29. (After turning,
Dawn allows Ceres to do the work of accelerating it, as gravity brings
the ship back down.)


[Graphics]
This figure (and the one below) shows Dawn's trajectory from high
above Ceres; equator to provide a different view from the figure
above. North is at the top. The sun is now far behind you and off to your
left a little. (Congratulations on moving so far in the short time since
viewing the previous figure.) The smaller green orbit is XMO3, in which
Dawn orbited counterclockwise in the plane of this diagram. Ion thrusting
is shown in solid blue, and the dashed segments of the trajectory are
coasting. The maneuvers began on the right side as the spacecraft was
heading north. The first two thrust periods propel the ship to higher
orbital altitudes. Far above the south pole, the third thrust segment,
at the bottom of the figure, swivels the orbit so Dawn flies out of the
screen toward you. Following the fourth thrust period to fine tune its
path as it travels to the north, the spacecraft settles into the new green
orbit, and when it gets to the plus sign, it is exactly on the line from
Occator Crater to the sun.

[Trajectory Graphic]

Like the figure immediately above, this depicts Dawn's trajectory
from a vantage point far above the equator, again with north at the top.
Having shifted your position again, now, as in the first trajectory figure
above, the sun is far to the left, not behind you, so you see XMO3 (the
inner green orbit) almost edge-on. Just to the right of Ceres, Dawn is
closer to you than the plane of the figure and is traveling toward the
top (north). As in the first figure, part of the green ellipse is blocked
by the blue. As described in the text and the other figures, Dawn uses
its ion engine initially to raise its altitude above Ceres, then it turns
when it crests far over the south pole (bottom). In the long vertical
dashed section, the last arc before the turn, Dawn is flying south on
the other side of the plane of the diagram. Its new orbit is the large
green ellipse, and as the spacecraft flies north on its clockwise progression,
it will measure the opposition surge at the plus sign.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This complex flight plan is different from all the prior powered flight,
both at Vesta and at Ceres. Most of the orbit changes have been lovely
spirals, and the ship rode the gravitational currents at Vesta to shift
the orbital plane by a much smaller angle than it is working on now. Some
of the graceful steps in this new choreography are especially delicate
and require exquisite accuracy to reach just the right final trajectory.
For the first time in almost two years, the spacecraft will need to take
pictures of Ceres for the express purpose of helping navigators plot its
progress. (In the intervening time, Dawn has taken more than 55,000 photos
specifically to study the dwarf planet. Many of them also have been used
for navigation.) Combining these "optical navigation" pictures with their
other navigational techniques, the team will design a final, fourth stage
of ion thrusting for April 22-24 to fine tune the orbit. We have described
such trajectory correction maneuvers before. (It's easier for you
to chart the spacecraft's progress than it is for the Dawn team.
All you have to do is read the mission status reports.)

By the time it began ion thrusting last week, Dawn had successfully completed
all of its assignments in XMO3. That included three photography sessions.
In the last, the spacecraft used the primary and backup cameras simultaneously
for the first time in the entire mission. In its extensive investigations
of Vesta and Ceres, Dawn has taken more than 85,000 pictures, but all
of them had been with only one camera powered on at a time, the other
being held in reserve. In April we will discuss the reason for operating
differently before leaving XMO3.

[Image of Ikapati Crater]

Dawn captured this view on Oct. 24, 2016, at an altitude of 920 miles
(1,480 kilometers) in extended mission orbit 2. On the upper right is
Ikapati Crater, which we saw in more detail last month. Here we see the
entire crater and the region around it. Note how smooth much of the terrain
is. The impact that formed the crater spread material that covered older,
preexisting craters. We have discussed before how scientists can use the
number and size of craters to estimate the age of geological features.
Ikapati is at 34?N, 46?E.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Dawn's adventure has been long and its experiences manifold. In just
a few days, the bold explorer will mark its second anniversary of arriving
at Ceres. (That's the second anniversary as reckoned by inhabitants
of Earth. In contrast, for locals, the immigrant from distant Earth has
been in residence for less than half a Cerean year, although more than
1,900 Cerean days.) In 2011-2012, the probe spent almost 14 months in
orbit around the giant protoplanet Vesta, the second largest object in
the main asteroid belt. The only craft ever to orbit two alien destinations,
it is a denizen of deep space. In its nearly 9.5-year solar system journey,
Dawn has traveled 3.7 billion miles (6.0 billion kilometers). For most
of this time, the spaceship has been in orbit around the sun, just as
its erstwhile home Earth is. Now it has been in orbit around remote worlds
for a third of its total time in space. And for you numerologists, March
5 will mark Dawn's being in orbit around its targets for pi years.
(Happy pi-th anniversary.)

Readers on or near Earth who appreciate following such an extraordinary
extraterrestrial expedition can take advantage of an opportunity this
week to do a little celestial navigation of their own. On March 2, the
moon will serve as a helpful signpost to locate the faraway ship on the
interplanetary seas. From our terrestrial viewpoint, the moon will move
very close to Dawn's location in the sky. The specifics, of course,
depend on your exact location. For many afternoon sky watchers in North
America, the moon will come to within about a degree, or two lunar diameters,
of Dawn. As viewed by some observers in South America, the moon will pass
directly in front of Dawn. For most Earthlings, when the moon rises on
the morning of March 2, it will be north and east of Dawn. During the
day, the moon will gradually drift closer and, from many locations, pass
the spacecraft and the dwarf planet it orbits. The angle separating them
will be less than the width of your palm at arm's length, providing
a handy way to find our planet's emissary. Although Dawn and Ceres
will appear to be near the moon, they will not be close to it at all.
The distant spacecraft will be more than 1,300 times farther away than
the moon by then (and well over one million times farther than the International
Space Station) and quite invisible. But your correspondent invites you
to gaze in that direction as you raise a saluting hand to humankind's
insatiable appetite for knowledge, irresistible drive for exploration,
passion for adventure, and longing to know the cosmos.

Dawn is 7,300 miles (11,800 kilometers) from Ceres. It is also 3.19 AU
(296 million miles, or 477 million kilometers) from Earth, or 1,280 times
as far as the moon and 3.22 times as far as the sun today. Radio signals,
traveling at the universal limit of the speed of light, take 53 minutes
to make the round trip.
Received on Fri 03 Mar 2017 06:07:23 PM PST