The DAWN mission is on the way to Ceres and Herschel Telescope Detects Water on the Dwarf Planet

In science fiction we rocket to the stars or bend space to get to places faster than the speed of light.

Closer to home SciFi has us living on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

We have missions to the asteroid belt to send water bearing asteroids to the inner planets.

Today we have to do things a bit slower and so far we don't have humans on asteroid missions.

Pioneer 10 and 11 went through the asteroid belt and didn't get smash to bits.

Then Voyager 1 and 2 did the same but they also went on their way out of the Solar system.

We have begun to explore some of our asteroids with spacecraft and the data they provide is beginning to give us first hand information about these nearby neighbors.

It still takes us years to get to them so we have to be persistent and wait.  

The DAWN mission is helping us by visiting more than one of these bodies.

And space telescopes like Herschel can give us information from afar.

http://herschel.esac.esa.int/

- LRK -

-----------------------------------

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTfMBJngwtw

Dawn, Mission to the Asteroids Vesta & Ceres 2007 NASA JPL Leonard Nimoy 720 HD

...

-----------------------------------

ION engines are going to help take us to different destinations.

- LRK -

-----------------------------------

http://www.nss.org/adastra/volume19/choi.html

From Ad Astra, Volume 19 Number 4, 2007

NASA's Dawn Mission:

Opening Up Asteroids to Space Settlement?

Testing a new ion thruster in uncharted space may be the main mission, but observers see potential beyond just exploring the Asteroid Belt.

http://www.nss.org/adastra/volume19/dawn2.jpg

Dawn Rising: Leaving the clouds behind, the Delta II rocket carrying the Dawn spacecraft arced through the blue sky over the Atlantic Ocean. Liftoff was from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Dawn is the ninth mission in NASA's Discovery Program. It is also NASA's first purely scientific mission powered by three solar electric ion propulsion engines. Image Credit: NASA/George Shelton.

By Charles Q. Choi

The asteroids may be minor planets, but they are often thought of as only barren rocks tumbling around the Sun. But soon scientists hope asteroids will be seen for what they really are: worlds that, like their larger brethren, could one day help support life.

...

-----------------------------------

The DAWN mission.  The ION engine allows for going into orbit around its target. 

Refresh yourself with the Wikipedia story of the start and stops of this mission.

I think Orbital Sciences Corporation deserves a high five hand for their efforts.

- LRK -

-----------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_(spacecraft)

Dawn is a space probe launched by NASA on September 27, 2007, to study the two most massive objects of the asteroid belt– the protoplanet Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. Currently en route to Ceres and scheduled and expected to arrive in February 2015,^[2][5] Dawn was the first spacecraft to visit Vesta, entering orbit on July 16, 2011.^[6][7] Should its mission succeed, it will also be the first spacecraft to visit Ceres and to orbit two separate extraterrestrial bodies.^[8]

The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, though European partners from the Netherlands, Italy and Germany contributed major components. It is the first NASA exploratory mission to use ion propulsion to enter orbits; previous multi-target missions using conventional drives, such as the Voyager program, were restricted to flybys.^[4]

...

-----------------------------------

The JPL DAWN web site.  Many topics covered.

- LRK -

-----------------------------------

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/

DAWN A journey to the Beginning of the Solar Systems.

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

Welcome to the Dawn Mission!

Dawn delves into the unknown, drives new technology innovations, and achieves what's never been attempted before. As a mission belonging to NASA’s Discovery Program. Dawn has orbited one member of the main asteroid belt, Vesta, and is now heading to explore a second new world, dwarf planet Ceres.

Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of its earliest history by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formation. Ceres and Vesta reside in the main asteroid belt, the extensive region between Mars and Jupiter, along with many other smaller bodies. Each followed a very different evolutionary path, constrained by the diversity of processes that operated during the first few million years of solar system evolution. When Dawn visits Ceres and Vesta, the spacecraft steps us back in solar system time.

- See more at: http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/#sthash.Q4wF2bOj.dpuf

...

-----------------------------------

DAWN should get to Ceres in the spring of 2015 and help follow up on the recent Herschel Telescope announcement about finding of water vapor there.

- LRK -

-----------------------------------

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-020
Herschel Telescope Detects Water on Dwarf Planet

January 22, 2014

Scientists using the Herschel space observatory have made the first definitive detection of water vapor on the largest and roundest object in the asteroid belt, Ceres.

Plumes of water vapor are thought to shoot up periodically from Ceres when portions of its icy surface warm slightly. Ceres is classified as a dwarf planet, a solar system body bigger than an asteroid and smaller than a planet.

Herschel is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission with important NASA contributions.

...

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/22jan_ceres/

----------------------------------

Thanks for looking up with me. 

- LRK -

 

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
WordPress: http://lrkellogg.wordpress.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://mailman1.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================   

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel/Herschel_discovers_water_vapour_around_dwarf_planet_Ceres

22 January 2014

ESA’s Herschel space observatory has discovered water vapour around Ceres, the first unambiguous detection of water vapour around an object in the asteroid belt.

With a diameter of 950 km, Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. But unlike most asteroids, Ceres is almost spherical and belongs to the category of ‘dwarf planets’, which also includes Pluto.

It is thought that Ceres is layered, perhaps with a rocky core and an icy outer mantle. This is important, because the water-ice content of the asteroid belt has significant implications for our understanding of the evolution of the Solar System....

==============================================================  

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/22jan_ceres/

Water Detected on Dwarf Planet Ceres

Jan. 22, 2014:  Scientists using the Herschel space observatory have made the first definitive detection of water vapor on the largest and roundest object in the asteroid belt, dwarf planet Ceres.

"This is the first time water vapor has been unequivocally detected on Ceres or any other object in the asteroid belt and provides proof that Ceres has an icy surface and an atmosphere," said Michael Küppers of ESA in Spain, lead author of a paper in the journal Nature.

...

==============================================================

WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -

==============================================================

DAWN resumes extended thrusting - June 30, 2009 and at Glenn Research - A more efficient spacecraft engine

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23120/page1/

Matt asked if I had heard anything about a new Voyager mission and I
didn't remember hearing anything so went looking with Google.
I found a mission, (IBEX Interstellar Boundary Explorer) that was
looking at the boundary of our Solar System, -
http://ibex.swri.edu/ - which made me think of the Voyagers and the
Pioneer 10-11 missions, but it is in an Earth like orbit.

The New Horizons mission to Pluto is going out there but more like the
Pioneer 10 craft than a Voyager.
---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html
Where is the New Horizons Spacecraft Now?

New Horizons Sees Changes in Jupiter System

New Horizons' voyage through the Jupiter system in 2007 provided a
bird's-eye view of a dynamic planet that has changed since the last
close-up looks by NASA spacecraft. A combination of trajectory, timing
and technology allowed it to explore details no probe had seen before,
such as lightning near Jupiter’s poles, the life cycle of fresh
ammonia clouds, boulder-size clumps speeding through the planet’s
faint rings, the structure inside volcanic eruptions on its moon Io,
and the path of charged particles traversing the previously unexplored
length of the planet’s long magnetic tail.

snip
---------------------------------------------------------

In the process of looking I also found reference to the DAWN mission
and ION propulsion.
The Voyager's 1 and 2, were just launched by chemical rockets and used
gravitational assists to flip them around the Solar System.

DAWN was launched with a Delta II Heavy Lift chemical rocket with 8
boosters, but it also has an ION Thruster to keep pushing it along.
- LRK -
---------------------------------------------------------
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/index.asp
Welcome to the Dawn Mission!

Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the
solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail two of the
largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formations. Ceres
and Vesta reside in the extensive zone between Mars and Jupiter
together with many other smaller bodies, called the asteroid belt.
Each has followed a very different evolutionary path constrained by
the diversity of processes that operated during the first few million
years of solar system evolution.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------

Here is a 13 minute video about the mission.

---------------------------------------------------------
DAWN Mission Video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5412000236766165719&hl=en
snip
---------------------------------------------------------

DAWN was in a coasting phase and new software was up-loaded for the computer.
They have now started the ION thruster with the new software and it
works. Whew!
That aught to have been a nail biter. You can read about it in the link below.
- LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.asp
Dawn Resumes Extended Thrusting
June 30, 2009
Dawn resumed its routine of long-duration thrusting with its ion
propulsion system on June 8. The spacecraft is now following the same
pattern it used for most of 2008, with only a single weekly
interruption in thrusting to point the main antenna to Earth. Dawn had
spent most of the time since October 31, 2008 coasting. In contrast,
most of the time from now until arrival at Vesta will be devoted to
thrusting.
snip
---------------------------------------------------------

Glenn Research has been working on ION engines for some time and work
is being done to make ones bigger than flew on DAWN and DS1.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/history/ds1.html
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/fs21grc.html

---------------------------------------------------------
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=8950
Tuning Up Ion Propulsion
by Administrator on August 5, 2009

A story on MIT’s Technology Review -
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23120/page1/ - site looks at
ion propulsion, and specifically at improvements made in the
technology at Glenn Research Center. Comparing the recent work to the
engines used in the Deep Space 1 and Dawn missions, the story quotes
GRC’s Michael Patterson as saying, “We made it physically bigger, but
lighter, reduced the system’s complexity to extend its lifetime, and,
overall, improved its efficiency.”

That’s good news, of course, and Patterson presented it to the AIAA’s
Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit this week in Denver. With
sessions on everything from Electric Propulsion Thruster Wear and Life
Assessment to Advanced Propulsion Concepts, Denver was clearly the
place to be for propulsion mavens. An entire session was devoted to
the new ion thrust work, which goes under the name NASA’s Evolutionary
Xenon Thruster (NEXT).
snip
---------------------------------------------------------

and back here on Mother Earth -
- LRK -

---------------------------------------------------------
NASA Science News for August 10, 2009

Like bugs streaking down the side window of a moving car, colorful
Perseid Earthgrazers could put on a pleasing show after sunset on
Tuesday, August 11th.

FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/10aug_horseflies.htm?list965414

snip
---------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
==============================================================
http://aiaa.org/agenda.cfm?lumeetingid=1980&viewcon=agenda&formatview=1&DateGet=03-Aug-09
snip
Session 5- EP-3 NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) and Other
Gridded Ion Techology Development 505
Chaired by: M. CROFTON, The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA, and
C. FARNELL, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
snip
http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/CDReadyMJPC09_1980/PV2009_4819.pdf
Near-Term High Power Ion Propulsion Options for Earth-Orbital Applications
Michael J. Patterson* and Luis Pinero†
NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, 44135
and
James S. Sovey‡
AlphaPort Inc., Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, 44135

There is a convergence in requirements among various elements of the U.S. government
and commercial industry relative to high-power electric propulsion systems for arthorbital applications, and in the advancement of high power lightweight photovoltaic array technologies. Some of these requirements and capabilities align well with NASA electric propulsion technologies, and specifically ion propulsion. NASA’s investment strategy in electric propulsion over the last decade has established the ground work for the development of a number of high power ion thruster concepts, which have evolved to various levels of technology readiness. Some of these concepts could provide the basis for the development of flight ion propulsion systems consistent with Earth-orbital applications needs. This could
allow for the fielding of high power systems (20 – 80 kW) with single thruster power
handling capability of up to 20 kW and higher, and do so within a decade. This paper
identifies and examines a number of thruster options. Assessments of technology readiness level, development roadmaps, technology challenges, and schedule are provided.

snip
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/launch/index.html
DAWN Launch Archive

Spacecraft: Dawn
Launch Vehicle: Delta II
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 17-B
Launch Date: September 27, 2007
Launch Time: 7:34 a.m. EDT

Launch Video
http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/anon.nasa-global/ksc/ksc_092707_dawn_launch.asx
snip
==============================================================
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9117571/NASA_All_systems_go_on_IBEX_probe_to_map_edge_of_solar_system

NASA: All systems go on IBEX probe to map edge of solar system Onboard computer is running smoothly and solar-fed batteries are already fully charged
By Sharon Gaudin
October 20, 2008 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - NASA engineers are remotely testing systems aboard the IBEX spacecraft launched yesterday on a mission to map and capture images of the edge of the solar system.

And so far, said Eric Christian, program scientist for NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer program, all systems are go. The computer onboard the spacecraft, which was launched from a Pegasus rocket on Sunday, is already up and running, and the batteries are fully charged.

snip
==============================================================

WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

==============================================================

09.27.07 - Dawn Spacecraft Successfully Launched

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/190705main_launch-browse.jpg

NASA's Dawn spacecraft began its 3 billion kilometer (1.7 billion mile)
journey through the inner solar system to study a pair of asteroids
Thursday.
+ Read More <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn-20070927.html>

Media Resources
+ Release: Dawn Successfully Launched
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/news/dawn-20070927.html>
+ View Press Kit <http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/189670main_dawn-launch.pdf>
(2.2Mb pdf)

Looks like it should have put on a good show.  Up, Up, and Away.

Mission Overview
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/mission/index.html>.

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html
----------------------------------------------------------

Sept. 27, 2007

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
RELEASE: 07-212

DAWN SPACECRAFT SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's Dawn spacecraft began its 1.7 billion
mile journey through the inner solar system to study a pair of
asteroids Thursday at 7:34 a.m. EDT.

The Delta 2 rocket, fitted with nine strap-on solid-fuel boosters,
safely climbed away from the Florida coastline and launch complex 17B
at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. "We have our time machine up
and flying," said Dawn Principal Investigator Christopher Russell of
the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dawn is scheduled to begin its exploration of Vesta in 2011 and Ceres
in 2015. The two icons of the asteroid belt are located in orbit
between Mars and Jupiter and have been witness to so much of our
solar system's history.

By using the same set of instruments at two separate destinations,
scientists can more accurately formulate comparisons and contrasts.
Dawn's science instrument suite will measure shape, surface
topography and tectonic history, elemental and mineral composition as
well as seek out water-bearing minerals.

A critical milestone for the spacecraft comes in is acquiring its
signal. The launch team expects that to occur in approximately 2-3
hours.

For the latest information about Dawn and its mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/dawn

 
-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov



Snip
==============================================================

WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

==============================================================