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(meteorobs) Fwd: NASA Selects 'Dawn' Discovery Mission For 2006 Launch
------- Forwarded Message
From: Ron Baalke <baalke@zagami.jpl.nasadot gov>
Subject: NASA Selects 'Dawn' Discovery Mission For 2006 Launch
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 15:43:40 -0800 (PST)
NASA SELECTS 'DAWN' DISCOVERY MISSION FOR 2006 LAUNCH
>From Lori Stiles, UA News Services, 520-621-1877
December 21, 2001
NASA today announced that "Dawn" will be one of the two new Discovery
missions slated for launch in 2006.
The ion-propulsion powered mission will make a nine-year journey to orbit
Vesta and Ceres, the two most massive asteroids known. The asteroids,
located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, have recorded
what the early solar system was like when the terrestrial planets formed.
"This is terrific," said University of Arizona astronomer Mark V. Sykes, a
scientist on the Dawn mission. "We've been proposing advanced propulsion
technology missions for many years now, and it's great to have an
opportunity to actually fly one."
The Dawn mission is led by Christopher T. Russell of the University of
California - Los Angeles. The project is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., will
develop the spacecraft.
NASA selected the missions from 26 proposals made in early 2001. The
missions must stay within the Discovery Program's development-cost cap of
about $299 million.
"Dawn will study the conditions and processes of planet formation during the
earliest epoch of our solar system by orbiting and studying Ceres and
Vesta," Sykes said. Dawn builds on decades of asteroid and meteorite
studies, he added.
"Ceres is more than a quarter the diameter of the moon, is water-rich, and
has retained its primitive composition and condition. Vesta, on the other
hand, was dry, heated to the point of melting, and preserves a record of its
subsequent differentiation.
"Almost all asteroids that we observe today are the fragments of larger
asteroids like Vesta and Ceres that were destroyed by ancient catastrophic
collisions. By studying Vesta and Ceres, we gain a much greater
understanding of how these modern fragments were once put together," Sykes
said.
Actually, scientists already have pieces of one of the asteroids within
reach - as meteorites that landed on Earth.
"Cratering collisions have knocked off pieces of Vesta, which have been
recovered as meteorites. They provide us with detailed information on
geochemical processes that have occurred within specific sites on Vesta from
the time of its formation at the beginning of the solar system," Sykes said.
"Going to Vesta will give us the big picture within which these hand-sized
pieces fit. It will be like going from studying bits of hair, nail, and bone
to seeing and studying the entire animal up close for the first time," he
added.
Sykes, an associate astronomer at Steward Observatory, specializes in the
study of asteroids, comets and interplanetary dust. He is the Chair of the
Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society.
Dawn will carry a framing camera and mapping spectrometer provided by the
German Aerospace Center, DLR, Institute of Sensor Technology and Planetary
Exploration in Berlin; a laser altimeter experiment provided by the NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center in conjunction with the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology; a gamma ray/neutron spectrometer from the Department of
Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory; and a magnetometer provided by
UCLA.
Ion engines will power the spacecraft to the asteroid belt, where it first
orbits Vesta in an ever-tightening circle and then spirals outward and heads
to its rendezvous with Ceres. The spacecraft will orbit as high as 800
kilometers (500 miles) to as low as 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) above
the surface of the asteroids. Flybys of more than a dozen other asteroids
along the way are planned.
NASA also selected the Kepler mission for 2006 launch. Kepler, a spaceborne
telescope, will search for Earth-like planets around stars beyond the solar
system.
"Kepler and Dawn are exactly the kind of missions NASA should be launching,
missions that tackle some of the most important questions in science yet do
it for a very modest cost," said Edward Weiler, associate administrator for
space science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It's an indicator of how
far we've come in our capability to explore space when missions with such
ambitious goals are proposed for the Discovery Program of lower-cost
missions rather than as major projects costing ten times as much."
Information about Dawn and images are available on the Internet at
http://www-ssc.igpp.ucladot edu/dawn/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Information
Mark V. Sykes
520-621-5381 (office)
520-721-1563 (residence)
msykes@as.arizonadot edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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