Progress of Dawn in the solar system

[ToSeek]

I can't understand when Dawn is going to actually get into Vesta's orbit: I sawe an image where "october 2011" was the planned date, I read a blog talking about August, I foud a site talking about july, 21th, and I finally read about July, 16th.

How can it be such a mistery when a probe reaches its target?!?

Which one is the right date? Any reliable link?

The mission website says July 16: Dawn Nears Start of Year-Long Stay at Giant Asteroid

The original arrival date was expected to be in October, but Dawn's ion thrusters worked better than expected, so the spacecraft was able to get to its target significantly earlier than expected. This improved performance is going to allow Dawn to double the time spent at Vesta from six months to a year.

[jumpjack]

Thank you very much. Doesn't it exist a "real" site like this?
http://www.dmuller.net/spaceflight/r...dawn&mode=scet

"Real" meaning with real timeline!

And what about a blog or site or chat to follow orbit insertion in realtime?

[BetaDust]

Thank you very much. Doesn't it exist a "real" site like this?
http://www.dmuller.net/spaceflight/m...p?mission=dawn

Would: This Site be of any help to you?

It's the "Where is Dawn Now?" page on JPL's Dawn website.
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/live_shots.asp

-- Dennis

[jumpjack]

thanks, very nice page. I had a look at the site before, but as I saw just approximate dates, I thought it was not reliable.

[Lord Jubjub]

Vesta is such a small object that they do not have a really accurate measure of its mass. That means that the craft has to arrive at Vesta before they can pin down exactly when it will enter various orbits.

[Vilkata]

Tinfoil hat mode: ON.

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/...age-070111.jpg

It's fascinating how those 4 dark craters in the upper left are arranged in what appears to be a nearly perfect square. I'm sure perspective is to blame, but that's very striking.

Maybe Vesta is an ancient derelict asteroid ship that seeded the solar system with life millions of years ago and that is its engine cluster?

Even without tinfoil hat mode, it's a very cool image. Those are features the Hubble pics didn't even hint at. Can't wait for more!! I've been following Dawn since the very early days. I'm a huge Vesta & Ceres buff.

---

[ToSeek]

Maybe Vesta is an ancient derelict asteroid ship that seeded the solar system with life millions of years ago and that is its engine cluster?

Richard Hoagland is probably already writing that article.

[bunker9603]

It was my understanding that images were going to be posted on a regular basis after the July 6th meeting. Has there been any updates from the DAWN team lately on what we might be able to expect for image releases?

DAWN was 65,000 miles from Vesta when the last image was posted, currently DAWN is 16,000 miles away. The view now should be quite spectacular!

[spjung]

Maybe Vesta is an ancient derelict asteroid ship that seeded the solar system with life millions of years ago and that is its engine cluster?

Or it's the UESC Marathon.

[Vilkata]

One of the fun things about this mission was getting to see this object we've never seen close up getting closer and closer and closer. It was very cool.

And now NASA hasn't released an image in almost 2 weeks! I guess they might figure theres no reason not to wait 'til Dawn is in orbit, which is fine, but still.

Or the newer images prove Vesta is a derelict asteroid ship, or the UESC Marathon, and the guv'ment is shielding us from the awe inspiring society shattering truth...
---
Edit: Ah, I read in another thread that they're going to release another image on Thursday. Woop woop woop!

[bunker9603]

Here is a link to this weeks image taken on July 9, 2011

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image of the giant asteroid Vesta with its framing camera on July 9, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 26,000 miles (41,000 kilometers) away from Vesta...Each pixel in the image corresponds to roughly 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers).


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/da...ge-070911.html

[korjik]

Here is a link to this weeks image taken on July 9, 2011

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image of the giant asteroid Vesta with its framing camera on July 9, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 26,000 miles (41,000 kilometers) away from Vesta...Each pixel in the image corresponds to roughly 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers).

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/da...ge-070911.html

that link is broke

[CJSF]

Here's the link again... Yay!

CJSF

[bunker9603]

that link is broke

Sorry about that, it should be ok now.

[Swift]

Interesting ridged terrain in the lower left quadrant. There are craters on top of it (so I'd guess an old feature), but the ridges seem to go through the one big crater all the way on the left edge.

[mantiss]

Lower left quadrant has a feature, circular and obviously old as craters are strewn over it, that is reminiscent of this left side of Uranian moon Miranda here

[Swift]

Lower left quadrant has a feature, circular and obviously old as craters are strewn over it, that is reminiscent of this left side of Uranian moon Miranda here

The racetrack! That was the feature I was thinking about in my post, but couldn't remember what moon it was on.

[JackWindu]

Here is a Link to a Q&A with Dawn project manager Robert Mase at Space.com. It anwsers why there hasn't been a new photo of Vesta since July 9th.
http://www.space.com/12286-vesta-ast...interview.html

[KaiYeves]

Is it just me who really feels like an explorer when they look at these details nobody has seen before now?

[Romanus]

^
Nope.

I also thought of Miranda when I saw the pic, though one could also draw a broad analogy (on a different scale) to the ridging on Ganymede's surface.

[CJSF]

Here is a Q&A with Dawn project manager Robert Mase at Space.com. It anwsers why there hasn't been a new photo of Vesta since July 9th.
http://www.space.com/12286-vesta-ast...interview.html

Where?

CJSF

[Lord Jubjub]

Press release

Since this is not the end of this mission's wandering through the solar system, I think this thread should remain open until the Ceres encounter a few years hence.

[jumpjack]

New ETA: 2011/07/16 05:00 GMT
Confirmation expected on 2011/07/17 06:30 GMT
http://saweatherobserver.blogspot.co...ter-large.html

[ToSeek]

Where?

CJSF

It's not very explicit, but there's a bit early on where he says that Dawn can't communicate with Earth when it's thrusting, so it only phones home about once a week. Right now it's thrusting and will be until Sunday morning. So no chance of any more photos until then at the earliest, and of course the first priority is going to be to make sure Dawn is in good shape and where they want it to be.

[profloater]

Vesta is such a small object that they do not have a really accurate measure of its mass. That means that the craft has to arrive at Vesta before they can pin down exactly when it will enter various orbits.

do you have a revised size of Vesta based on the latest picture?

[Lord Jubjub]

“Ladies and gentlemen, as we start our descent, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. Please turn off all electronic devices until we are safely in orbit around Vesta. Thank you.”

[ToSeek]

It seemed a propitious occasion to start a new thread for Dawn's activities while orbiting Vesta. If you disagree, let me know, and I can re-merge the threads.

[Lord Jubjub]

I'll jump this thread up since this is a major milestone. According to the good Doctor's Journal Dawn started its descent to LAMO on 2 November. It should establish LAMO right around the end of the first week in December.

[Lord Jubjub]

LAMO has been established. The pretty pictures will restart in the New Year.

[KaiYeves]

LAMO has been established. The pretty pictures will restart in the New Year.

Squee!