NASA's Dawn is running out of fuel and will remain silent for decades



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The boat was silent while it was running out of fuel, thus completing its mission.

Dawn failed to communicate via the WND with NASA on October 31 and November 1. The control center operators ruled out any other possibility of communication failure and concluded that the vessel no longer had fuel (hydrazine). He could thus orient his antennas towards the Earth and communicate with his solar panels. in the sun to recharge.

The cost of a $ 467 million Dawn, powered by Ion engines and launched in 2007, was a first. In July 2011, the large 530-kilometer asteroid, or perhaps the center of protoplanite, the second largest body in the asteroid zone between Aris-Zeus, was reached. He became the first to enter a 14-month orbit around a body located in this zone.

Among other things, "Avgi" discovered that the Wet Water once flowed on Estia and that, despite its small size, it has near the South Pole a peak almost as long as the volcanic Olympos of Mars.

After leaving Home in September 2012, he put the 950 km long dwarf planet Demeter into orbit in March 2015, the largest body in the asteroid zone. It was the first vessel to orbit around a dwarf planet and the first to orbit around two celestial bodies.

In Daemon, among others, Dawn discovered a four kilometer insulated or crystalline mountain (called Ahunas Mons), strange shiny spots of salt, organic salts (precursors of life) and signs that it was There could still be pockets of liquid water, making astrobiologists the dwarf target of the planet for the pursuit of life.

The Avgi muffler will stay in orbit around Demeter for at least 50 years, until it falls on the small planet.

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