Dawn enters orbit around Vesta
Jul. 15th, 2011 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmcirvinBy the way, Dawn is supposed to actually enter Vesta orbit at 1 AM EST tonight. It will be less of an event than these things usually are, because of Dawn's ion drive; the spacecraft has been gradually closing in on the asteroid for weeks, and there won't be any big orbital-insertion burn.
The science phase of the mission officially begins in August; I'm looking forward to seeing more frequent pictures. So far, the images taken have been intermittent shots taken for navigation purposes, and the Dawn team has taken a little more time to release them than we're used to from missions like Cassini; I think they got some more on Wednesday that they haven't released yet.
It will spend a year in orbit around Vesta before leaving for Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015.
The science phase of the mission officially begins in August; I'm looking forward to seeing more frequent pictures. So far, the images taken have been intermittent shots taken for navigation purposes, and the Dawn team has taken a little more time to release them than we're used to from missions like Cassini; I think they got some more on Wednesday that they haven't released yet.
It will spend a year in orbit around Vesta before leaving for Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015.