1 day / second
0.5 AU
Dawn
Spacecraft
A pioneering ion-propelled spacecraft that explored both Vesta and Ceres between 2011-2018, becoming the first mission to orbit two different planetary bodies beyond Earth.
Key Facts
organization | NASA |
orbital regime | Asteroid Belt |
learn more | Wikipedia |
launched | 2007-09-27 |
defunct | 2018-10-30 |
launch mass | 1,217.7 kg |
power | 10,000 watts |
Mission Timeline
Launched
September 27, 2007 at 11:34 UTC
Mars
Gravity Assist
Dawn made a gravity assist flyby of Mars on February 17, 2009, using the planet's gravitational field to modify its trajectory and save fuel on its journey to Vesta and Ceres.
4 Vesta
Orbiter
Dawn entered orbit around Vesta on July 16, 2011, spending 14 months mapping the asteroid's surface in detail and revealing its geology before departing for Ceres in September 2012.
1 Ceres
Orbiter
Dawn spent over three years orbiting Ceres at various altitudes between 2015 and 2018, mapping the dwarf planet's surface in unprecedented detail and discovering evidence of subsurface oceans and organic compounds.
Defunct
October 30, 2018 at 12:00 UTC
After studying the dwarf planet Ceres for over three years, Dawn exhausted its hydrazine fuel supply and ceased communications while remaining in a stable orbit around the largest object in the asteroid belt.
Other Spacecraft
