Dawn glitch delays departure from Vesta
Posted: Wed, Aug 15, 2012, 9:17 AM ET (1317 GMT)
A problem with a reaction wheel on NASA's Dawn spacecraft will slightly delay the spacecraft's departure from the vicinity of the asteroid Vesta but should not affect its journey to Ceres. JPL reported Monday that the spacecraft's onboard control system powered down one of the reaction wheels, used for attitude control, on August 8. The problem caused project managers to temporarily turn off the spacecraft's ion thrusters, which had been firing to gradually spiral the spacecraft away from Vesta, in order to investigate the problem. That will delay the spacecraft's departure from orbit around the giant asteroid, but should not affect its ability to travel to the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn, which spent over a year orbiting Vesta, is scheduled to arrive at Ceres in early 2015.
A problem with a reaction wheel on NASA's Dawn spacecraft will slightly delay the spacecraft's departure from the vicinity of the asteroid Vesta but should not affect its journey to Ceres. JPL reported Monday that the spacecraft's onboard control system powered down one of the reaction wheels, used for attitude control, on August 8. The problem caused project managers to temporarily turn off the spacecraft's ion thrusters, which had been firing to gradually spiral the spacecraft away from Vesta, in order to investigate the problem. That will delay the spacecraft's departure from orbit around the giant asteroid, but should not affect its ability to travel to the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn, which spent over a year orbiting Vesta, is scheduled to arrive at Ceres in early 2015.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Tuesday, October 21
European aerospace groups reach framework deal on satellite merger, sources say
Reuters — 7:07 am ET (1107 GMT) Northrop raises annual profit forecast on strong demand
Reuters — 7:06 am ET (1106 GMT) Elon Musk now controls two thirds of satellites as 10,000th Starlink launches
The Independent — 7:05 am ET (1105 GMT) Muon Space to Integrate SpaceX's Starlink Mini Space Lasers Into Its Halo Satellite Platform
PR Newswire — 7:05 am ET (1105 GMT) Rocket Lab Schedules Next Electron Launch, Sixth Mission for Constellation Operator iQPS
Rocket Lab — 7:04 am ET (1104 GMT) |
