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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena will host a live Science Chat at 11:00 am in the Pacific at 14:00. Eastern, this Friday, September 7th, with experts who will talk about the role of the Dawn agency spacecraft in studying the beginning of our solar system and the upcoming end of the 11-year spacecraft's mission.
The panel will include Jim Green, chief scientist of NASA; Carol Raymond, Principal Investigator, Dawn Mission, JPL; and Marc Rayman, director of Dawn Mission and chief engineer, also at JPL.
NASA launched Dawn in 2007 to learn more about the beginning of the solar system. During his mission, the spacecraft studied the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres, two celestial bodies thought to form at the beginning of the solar system's history.
Vesta and Ceres were selected for the mission as they developed into two different body types, according to a description of the JPL.
Vesta is a dry and differentiated object with a surface that shows signs of resurfacing. It looks like the rocky bodies of the inner solar system, including the Earth.
In contrast, Ceres has a primitive surface containing aquiferous minerals and may have a weak atmosphere. NASA has stated that the dwarf planet seems to be more similar to the large, frozen moons of the outer solar system.
The Dawn spacecraft carries three scientific instruments whose data are now used in combination to characterize these bodies. These consist of a visible camera, a visible and infrared mapping spectrometer and a gamma and neutron spectrometer.
In addition to the instruments, Dawn's radiometric and optical navigation data help scientists understand the Vesta and Ceres gravity fields, as well as the overall properties and internal structure of both bodies.
Dawn is also the only spacecraft to orbit two deep space destinations, a feat made possible by the effectiveness of the spacecraft's ion propulsion system.
Science Chat Friday will be broadcast live on NASA Television, Facebook Live, Ustream, YouTube and NASA's website, www.nasa.gov.
Those watching the event can ask questions on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA or in the comments section of the JPL Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NASAJPL.
For more information on Dawn, visit www.nasa.gov/dawn.
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