spacetoday.net: Dawn enters orbit around Vesta

Dawn enters orbit around Vesta

Posted: Sun, Jul 17, 2011, 10:48 AM ET (1448 GMT)
Dawn spacecraft illustration (UCLA/W. Hartman)

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has entered orbit around the large main-belt asteroid Vesta, the space agency announced early Sunday. Dawn achieved orbit around Vesta on Saturday, although NASA was unable to give a specific time for its arrival; NASA previously estimated Vesta would go into orbit at around 1 am EDT (0500 GMT) Saturday. Mission controllers had to wait until early Sunday for the spacecraft to point its antennas towards Earth and transmit telemetry. Dawn, launched in 2007, will study both Vesta and Ceres during its mission, using ion propulsion to travel through the main asteroid belt. Dawn will remain in orbit around Vesta for a year before departing to go to Ceres.