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
|
|
Space Force picks 14 companies for GEO surveillance program
Posted: Sat, Apr 11 10:34 AM ET (1434 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, April 12
New FCC rule will make Starlink satellite internet faster and cheaper
Mashable — 4:06 am ET (0806 GMT) 6 mind-blowing space missions now set to launch after Artemis II
Science Focus — 4:04 am ET (0804 GMT) Artemis II crew used modern photography to tell the visual story of their lunar journey – and update some classic Apollo images
The Conversation — 4:03 am ET (0803 GMT) Scotland 'on track' to become key centre in European spaceflight
The Scotsman — 4:03 am ET (0803 GMT) Bill Maher is not convinced by the Artemis II mission: ‘Let’s fix the ----show on Earth’
The Independent — 4:02 am ET (0802 GMT) |
