News Archive / Tagged: Vesta

• A spaceflight era closes with end of Dawn and Kepler missions

  Laurel KornfeldNovember 3rd, 2018

  The Kepler and Dawn spacecraft both ran out of fuel, marking the end of an era that transformed our understanding of both our solar system and others.

• Dawn’s voyage of discovery comes to a close

  Jason RhianNovember 1st, 2018

  After 11 years and 4.3 billion miles, NASA's Dawn mission has come to an end. How has the spacecraft revolutionized our understanding of the solar system and space hardware?

• Dawn mission approaches end as spacecraft runs out of fuel

  Laurel KornfeldSeptember 10th, 2018

  NASA's Dawn mission, after 11 years is drawing to a close, but during the years it has explored worlds and forever altered our understanding of the solar system.

• Under Dawn’s light: Ceres shines in recent imagery

  Jason RhianJune 11th, 2015

  The tiny worlds that straddle the region of the Solar System known as the asteroid belt have come into sharper focus thanks to NASA’s Dawn mission. Since its launch in 2007, the ion engine-powered spacecraft has already traveled to and left the asteroid Vesta and is now in the process of circling closer to the […]

• NASA’s Dawn spacecraft captures stunning video of Ceres’ bright spots

  Jason RhianMay 12th, 2015

  Having concluded its first mapping orbit, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has produced new video of the two bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres. The probe completed one 15-day orbit around the tiny planetoid as it uses its scientific instruments to provide new insights and observations into the dynamics behind the formation of these small worlds. Ceres has […]

• Public event highlights NASA’s Dawn Mission to dwarf planet Ceres

  Matthew KuhnsMay 10th, 2015

  PASADENA, Calif — An event was held Saturday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.PDT on the campus of the California Institute of Technology on a beautiful, yet cloudy, afternoon. With a special focus on NASA’s Dawn mission to the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres, this celebration of planetary exploration was held to keep […]

• Dawn spacecraft prepares to take more photos of dwarf planet Ceres

  Jim SharkeyApril 9th, 2015

  NASA announced on Monday, April 6, that the Dawn spacecraft has performed flawlessly in the month since its capture by the gravity of the dwarf planet Ceres. Ceres’ gravity, in combination with the thrust from Dawn‘s ion engine, is guiding the spacecraft into a circular orbit around the tiny world. All of the spacecraft’s systems and […]

• New NASA app allows public to explore Vesta

  Jim SharkeyApril 3rd, 2015

  On Tuesday, March 31, NASA announced the release of Vesta Trek, a free web-based application that provides detailed visualizations of Vesta – one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System. The application uses data acquired by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft during its exploration of Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012. Vesta Trek provides a number of […]

• Dawn spacecraft prepped for orbital insertion

  SpaceFlight InsiderMarch 3rd, 2015

  On Friday, March 6, 2015, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will make history as it becomes the first spacecraft to orbit two bodies in the main asteroid belt. Prior to orbital insertion, planned for 4:20 a.m. PST (7:20 a.m. EST), Dawn has beamed back several new images of the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn will be the first mission to […]

• Ceres’ bright spot has a dimmer companion

  SpaceFlight InsiderFebruary 25th, 2015

  NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is set to insert itself into orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres on March 6, 2015. The enigmatic body has puzzled astronomers since its discovery in 1801. The probe’s latest images, taken from a mere 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers) from Ceres, reveal that the bright spot first detected in previous images may not […]

• NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft finds evidence of past water on Vesta

  SpaceFlight InsiderJanuary 23rd, 2015

  Vesta, the second largest body in the asteroid belt, was the first target for NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. The probe orbited the protoplanet, gathering as much data as it could, from 2011-2013. Once thought to be a completely dry world with freezing temperatures and low surface pressures, new data from Dawn indicates there may have been […]