Dawn awakens from its hibernation. A dark sky full of stars ... an unremarkable photograph itself and away from the beauty of many others, but whose value is not so much by what we see in it as he took it. And after "sleep" for six months probe Dawn awoke from his long sleep to start preparing for your arrival to the asteroid Vesta, scheduled for next July.
" gently woke Last week three of the science instruments on Dawn, who have spent most of his time sleeping in these three years and a half year journey to Vesta. This activity confirms that we way of the first close examination of one of the last unexplored worlds in the inner solar system "explains Robert Mase, Dawn Project. And the data suggest the perfect state of health of these, both mechanical components and electrical system and software. You
optical system, both visible and infrared light, were reactivated Espectrómetero which will examine the mineralogy of the surface Vesta and Ceres as neutron detector and gamma rays, which will enter into its basic components. These three are the mainstay of the capacity of this probe, and its awakening is the first sign of how close we are to launch the most ambitious mission in the asteroid belt.
In these four months will be taking pictures Dawn in order to adjust the path ahead of their encounter with Vesta also to achieve the first images with some resolution of this large asteroid, it'sa world in itself with its more than 500 miles in diameter and complex structure. Once I went into orbit will remain one year, until July 2012 when, thanks to Ion drive, will drive to her second and final goal Ceres, the largest of all asteroids, which will arrive in mid 2015 .
A simple picture, a dark sky full of stars ... a picture of the ocean star that marks the beginning of a new adventure. Ahead we expect the two most important bodies of the realm that lies between Mars and Jupiter , two worlds in their own right, and unexplored ancient fossils from the early Solar System awaiting our arrival.
Vesta seen through the Hubble, and second most massive object in the asteroid belt and the third in size with a diameter of about fifty-third miles and an estimated mass of 9% of the belt entire asteroid. It is believed he suffered a great impact about 1000 million years that caused him to lose 1% of their mass, leaving a large crater at the south pole and creating a cloud of debris most of which even today are rushing into Earth and form a significant proportion of the total. 
Dawn's career ... first stop Vesta, Ceres second and last. 
great adventure begins ... the asteroid belt, close but still relatively unexplored, waiting for us. Dawn Opens Eyes STI, STI Checks Instruments
0 comments:
Post a Comment