NASA's Dawn mission will stop running without fuel



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"It will be terrible to see Dawn's Departure from our mission, we are proud of its 11 years of record in global science and many achievements, Dawn's scientific and technical achievements will be repeated throughout history" Lori Glaze, Acting Director of the

Dawn is a spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral SLC-17B in Florida by NASA in September 2007 with the mission of characterizing the conditions and processes of the solar system and studying the two largest bodies of the belt. Asteroids – Vesta and Ceres Jupiter. Dawn reached Vesta in July 2011 and studied the object from its orbit for 14 months. The probe's observations revealed that the giant crater of Veasia is even bigger than the experts thought, with a diameter of 500 km and a depth of 19 km.

In September 2012, the spacecraft departed for Ceres and arrived at its final destination in March 2015, becoming the first and only probe to orbiter around a dwarf planet. Dawn, with its super-efficient propulsion and power, generates thrust by expelling xenon ions from a nozzle, completing these explorations

Unfortunately, the NASA Dawn mission will probably stop short of hydrazine, an essential fuel with which the probe will lose its ability to study Ceres and lose all communication potential with the Earth. The spacecraft will remain in silent orbit around Ceres to avoid the possibility of altering its surface. The cost of the mission, amounting to $ 473 million, comes mainly from Europe. The manufacturer was Orbital Sciences, JPL, UCLA

"That's what I like to see as an" acceleration with patience. "This opens up destinations in the solar system that NASA would otherwise be unable to reach. a mission for all those who yearn for new inquisitive knowledge of the cosmos "NASA's mission director and chief engineer (JPL), Marc Rayman, said at a press conference

NASA's Dawn project team won two awards and was selected by the prestigious National Association of Aeronautics Robert j. Trophy Necklace, annual aviation award run by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) of the United States. This award is given annually for the greatest achievements in aeronautics or astronautics in America.

Twilight for dawn.

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