The Dawn Project's Transition to Mission Operations: On Its Way to Rendezvous with (4) Vesta and (1) Ceres
- Paper number
IAC-08.A3.5.2
- Author
Dr. Marc D. Rayman, Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Keyur Patel, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
The ninth project in NASA's Discovery program, Dawn launched on 27 September 2007 on a mission to orbit main belt asteroids (4) Vesta in 2011 - 2012 and (1) Ceres in 2015. The operations team conducted an extensive set of assessments of the engineering subsystems and science instruments during the first 80 days of the mission. A major objective of this period was to thrust for one week with the ion propulsion system to verify flight and ground systems readiness for typical interplanetary operations. In addition, as planned before launch, updated flight software was loaded in November. Upon successful conclusion of the checkout phase, the interplanetary cruise phase began, most of which will be devoted to thrusting. The spacecraft will encounter Mars in February 2009 for a gravity assist. The flexibility afforded by the use of ion propulsion enabled the project to accommodate a 100-day postponement in the launch caused by a combination of launch and tracking systems readiness, unfavorable weather at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and then conflicts with other launches. The shift in the launch date permits all of the science objectives to be retained on the same schedule with greater technical margins. This paper will describe the conclusion of the development phase of the project, launch operations, and the progress of mission operations.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.A3.5.2.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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