After a seven and a half year journey to the dwarf planet of Ceres, the Dawn spacecraft has finally achieved orbit around the dwarf planet, becoming the first spacecraft to do so. Scientists received the signal that indicated the spacecraft was healthy and had successfully achieved orbit around Ceres at 13:36 UTC on the 6th March.
Launched in September 2007, Dawn firstly visited the asteroid Vesta for fourteen months in 2011 and 2012. After collecting valuable data, it reignited its ion thrusters once again and set off for the mysterious dwarf planet of Ceres. The spacecraft sent back images of greater resolution than the Hubble Telescope in late January of this year, and from there has continued to frequently send back stunning images of the cratered world.
Launched in September 2007, Dawn firstly visited the asteroid Vesta for fourteen months in 2011 and 2012. After collecting valuable data, it reignited its ion thrusters once again and set off for the mysterious dwarf planet of Ceres. The spacecraft sent back images of greater resolution than the Hubble Telescope in late January of this year, and from there has continued to frequently send back stunning images of the cratered world.
Ceres, which lies between the orbits of the red planet Mars and gas giant Jupiter, is currently 500 million kilometres from Earth at the time of orbital insertion. Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt. Composed of rock and ice, the cratered world has a diameter of around 950 kilometres. Recent images have revealed much about the world, with particular focus on the two white spots that are so far unidentified. Theories have emerged as to what these are, ranging from surface ice to ice volcanoes or geysers.
"Dawn is about to make history. Our team is ready and eager to find out what Ceres has in store for us." said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager at JPL. Indeed, the discoveries of Dawn could provide further evidence into how the solar system formed and the characteristics of large asteroids.
So what now for the Dawn mission? Due to the trajectory being followed to get down to science orbits, the spacecraft will be in Ceres’ shadow for the next month. When Dawn emerges from Ceres’ dark side, it will deliver the sharpest images yet, revealing more about the heavily cratered dwarf planet. These images are expected to be taken and released in mid-April, so until then we just have to speculate about what the spacecraft may find.
"Dawn is about to make history. Our team is ready and eager to find out what Ceres has in store for us." said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager at JPL. Indeed, the discoveries of Dawn could provide further evidence into how the solar system formed and the characteristics of large asteroids.
So what now for the Dawn mission? Due to the trajectory being followed to get down to science orbits, the spacecraft will be in Ceres’ shadow for the next month. When Dawn emerges from Ceres’ dark side, it will deliver the sharpest images yet, revealing more about the heavily cratered dwarf planet. These images are expected to be taken and released in mid-April, so until then we just have to speculate about what the spacecraft may find.