Dawn flies past Mars
Posted: Thu, Feb 19, 2009, 8:00 AM ET (1300 GMT)
NASA's Dawn mission flew past Mars late Tuesday on its way to the asteroid belt. The spacecraft passed 550 kilometers from the surface of Mars at 7:28 pm EST Tuesday (0028 GMT Wednesday), accelerating the spacecraft by over 9,000 km/h. The gravity-assist swingby gave the spacecraft enough of a speed boost to put it on course for the large main belt asteroid Vesta. Dawn, launched in 2007, is propelled primarily by its own ion thrusters, but needed the Mars flyby to get enough speed to make the mission viable. Dawn is scheduled to arrive at Vesta in September 2011, followed by a trip to the largest main belt asteroid, Ceres, in 2015.
NASA's Dawn mission flew past Mars late Tuesday on its way to the asteroid belt. The spacecraft passed 550 kilometers from the surface of Mars at 7:28 pm EST Tuesday (0028 GMT Wednesday), accelerating the spacecraft by over 9,000 km/h. The gravity-assist swingby gave the spacecraft enough of a speed boost to put it on course for the large main belt asteroid Vesta. Dawn, launched in 2007, is propelled primarily by its own ion thrusters, but needed the Mars flyby to get enough speed to make the mission viable. Dawn is scheduled to arrive at Vesta in September 2011, followed by a trip to the largest main belt asteroid, Ceres, in 2015.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, March 1
France, Cyprus and Greece Partner to Develop Next-Generation Satellite Optical Communications Technologies
Thales Alenia Space — 12:17 pm ET (1717 GMT) SDA Makes HALO Europa Award
Space Development Agency — 11:27 am ET (1627 GMT) Rogue Signs Satlyt to OTP-2 and 2B Missions to Demonstrate On-Orbit AI, Edge Computing, and In-Space Data Centers
Rogue Space Systems — 11:27 am ET (1627 GMT) Sceye Unveils First-of-Its-Kind Stratospheric Telecom Antenna, SceyeCELL, to Bridge the Gap Between Ground Towers and Satellites
Sceye — 11:24 am ET (1624 GMT) Young "Sun" Caught Blowing Bubbles by NASA's Chandra
Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center — 11:22 am ET (1622 GMT) |
