Dawn wakes from hibernation .
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- 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 is that the data indicating the good 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
Dawn taking images in order to adjust its trajectory in the face of his encounter with Vesta addition to achieving the first images with true 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
- asteroid belt
- and the third in size with a diameter of about fifty-third miles and an estimated mass of 9% the entire asteroid belt. 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 our planet and form a significant proportion of the total.
great adventure begins ... the asteroid belt, close but still relatively unexplored, waiting for us.
Dawn Opens Eyes STI, STI Checks Instruments
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