Preparing for the Dawn Mission to Vesta and Ceres
- Paper number
IAC-05-A3.5.B.01
- Author
Dr. Marc D. Rayman, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Thomas C. Fraschetti, Jet Propulsion Laboratory / CalTech, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Carol A. Raymond, Jet Propulsion Laboratory / CalTech, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Christopher T. Russsell, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
- Year
2005
- Abstract
The ninth project in NASA's Discovery Program, Dawn is preparing for its 2006 launch on a mission to orbit main belt asteroids (4) Vesta and (1) Ceres. Dawn is designed to provide insights into important questions about the evolution of the solar system by acquiring data for a wide range of investigations on these two complementary protoplanets. The spacecraft will spend more than 0.5 years in orbit about each one, becoming not only the first orbiter of an asteroid in the main belt but also the first spacecraft ever to orbit two bodies after leaving Earth. The project relies on extensive heritage in hardware, software, and operations experience from other deep-space and Earth-orbiting missions. This challenging mission is enabled by an ion propulsion system (IPS), permitting the ambitious objectives to be accomplished with an affordable budget. In addition, the IPS' coupling of maximum permissible flight system mass to power available to the IPS requires methods of managing these and other technical resources different from those used on missions with conventional propulsion. Now that the project is nearing launch, the refinement of resource estimates allows the identification of excess margin, which is being applied in novel ways to increase the scientific potential of the mission. This paper will discuss the margins and present progress in the last year in completing the flight system design, beginning the assembly and testing, and refining plans for the mission.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-A3.5.B.01.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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