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
|
|
Monday, August 31
Houston, we have a problem. Who’s controlling space traffic?
Straight Arrow News — 4:12 am ET (0812 GMT) Winston Scott to Newsmax: Space Academy 'Well Needed'
NewsMax.com — 4:11 am ET (0811 GMT) What Is Trump’s U.S. Space Academy?
Time — 4:11 am ET (0811 GMT) NZ halves time to launch rockets in space goldrush
Radio New Zealand — 4:09 am ET (0809 GMT) 'A glorious dawn launch': NASA's newest space telescope has left the Earth
NPR — 4:06 am ET (0806 GMT) |
