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NASA lost a second spacecraft this week, ending a successful mission in the asteroid belt.
The Dawn Space Shuttle has been out of gas for some time this week to communicate with the flight controllers. His prolonged silence prompted NASA to declare his death Thursday, two days after the presentation of his eulogy at the Kepler Space Telescope. Kepler, aged 9 and a half, also ran out of fuel, essential to direct the satellite.
They both continued to work longer than expected and their disappearance was expected.
Powered by three ionic engines, Dawn, 11, was the first spacecraft to orbit an object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, as well as the first to orbit at two locations beyond the Earth. After circling the asteroid Vesta, Dawn orbited the dwarf planet Ceres.
The director of the mission and chief engineer, Marc Rayman, insisted that he was not sad. On the contrary, he said in an email, "I'm delighted that it's so exciting and productive. Dawn has been a spectacular success in every respect. This has brought humanity into a truly amazing adventure in deep space with amazing discoveries. "
Ceres is the largest object of the asteroid belt, followed by Vesta. Dawn's "amazing" images shed light on the history and evolution of our solar system, said Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA's science mission.
Dawn is expected to remain in orbit around Ceres for decades, according to NASA.
"For me, it's the perfect end of an extraordinary extraterrestrial expedition," Rayman said.
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