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Dawn is a retired space probe that was launched by NASA in September 2007 with the mission of studying two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt: Vesta and Ceres. [1] In the fulfillment of that mission—the ninth in NASA's Discovery Program — Dawn entered orbit around Vesta on July 16, 2011, and completed a 14-month survey ...
The spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta on July 16, 2011, and completed a 14-month survey mission before leaving for Ceres in late 2012. It went into orbit around Ceres on March 6, 2015. Dawn performed near-global geological, chemical, and geophysical mapping of Ceres [8] until its hydrazine fuel was depleted on October 31, 2018.
Thereafter, the spacecraft headed to Ceres and started to orbit the dwarf planet on March 6, 2015. [104] In November 2018, NASA reported that Dawn had run out of fuel, effectively ending its mission; it will remain in orbit around Ceres, but can no longer communicate with Earth. [105]
Ceres is rich with water, the Dawn spacecraft finds. Ceres is the largest dwarf planet in the inner solar system, and new findings from the Dawn spacecraft reveal this body is covered in salty oceans.
By the time the spacecraft ran out of fuel it had around 4.3 billion miles under its belt. The spacecraft itself may indeed be dead, but Dawn's contribution to science is far from over.
The Dawn spacecraft has spotted not one, but two bright points on the minor planet Ceres. Newly enhanced images from the probe show two shining spots on the surface. It's not clear exactly what ...
In October 2015, NASA released a true-colour portrait of Ceres made by Dawn. [155] In 2017, Dawn's mission was extended to perform a series of closer orbits around Ceres until the hydrazine used to maintain its orbit ran out. [156] Dawn soon discovered evidence of cryovolcanism.
Months ago, NASA's Dawn spacecraft began capturing images of Ceres, and among the many intriguing surface features it has discovered is a rather mysterious conical mountain. The agency announced ...