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*Dawn*
	Illustration of the Dawn spacecraft
Mission type	Multi-target orbiter
Operator	NASA / JPL
COSPAR ID	2007-043A
SATCAT no.	32249
Website	http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/
Mission duration	Planned: 9 years ; Final: 11 years, 1 month, 5 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Orbital Sciences · JPL · UCLA
Launch mass	1,217.7 kg (2,684.6 lb)
Dry mass	747.1 kg (1,647.1 lb)
Dimensions	1.64 × 19.7 × 1.77 m (5.4 × 65 × 5.8 ft)
Power	10,000 watts at 1 AU ; 1,300 watts at 3 AU
Start of mission
Launch date	September 27, 2007, 11:34 UTC
Rocket	Delta II 7925H
Launch site	Cape Canaveral SLC-17B
Contractor	United Launch Alliance
End of mission
Disposal	Uncontrolled/stable orbit
Last contact	30 October 2018
Flyby of Mars
Closest approach	February 18, 2009, 00:27:58 UTC
Distance	542 km (337 mi)
4 Vesta orbiter
Orbital insertion	July 16, 2011, 04:47 UTC
Orbital departure	September 5, 2012, 06:26 UTC
1 Ceres orbiter
Orbital insertion	March 6, 2015, 12:29 UTC
FC
Instruments
FC	Framing Camera
VIR	Visible and Infrared Spectrometer
GRaND	Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector
	; Dawn mission patch Discovery program ← Deep Impact Kepler →

Dawn is an unmanned NASA space probe. It has orbited and studied the asteroid Vesta, and it is currently orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres. Both Vesta and Ceres are in the asteroid belt. Dawn is the first spacecraft to visit Ceres and the first to visit Vesta.^[4] It also is the first spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial bodies.^[4]

Dawn was launched on September 27, 2007^[5]^[6]^[7] at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a Delta 7925-H rocket.^[6]^[7] It then travelled to Mars for a gravity assist, making its closest approach to Mars in February 2009.^[5]

Next, Dawn set off for Vesta.^[5] It went into orbit in July, 2011.^[5] On September 5, 2012, Dawn left Vesta and headed for Ceres.^[4] It began to orbit Ceres on March 6, 2015.^[4]^[8]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 "Dawn at Ceres" (PDF) (Press kit). NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory. March 2015.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 ^2.4 "Dawn". National Space Science Data Center. NASA. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
↑ Brown, Dwayne C.; Vega, Priscilla (August 1, 2011). "NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Begins Science Orbits of Vesta". NASA. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 "Dawn at Ceres" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 Schilling, Govert (July 2011), "Solar System sleuth", BBC Sky at Night Magazine, no. 74, pp. 38–43
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 "Dawn Launch". NASA. Archived from the original on 2017-06-24. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 "Week in Photos: Dawn Lifts Off, Pike Poisoned, More". National Geographic. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
↑ "NASA Spacecraft Becomes First to Orbit a Dwarf Planet". NASA. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-03-07.

Other websites

"Dawn Mission Overview". NASA. Archived from the original on 2011-10-16. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
"Video: NASA Asteroid Probe Launched" (Video). National Geographic. Retrieved 2011-08-16.