Launch of the Dawn mission
Launch of the Dawn mission: on the morning of 27 September 2007, the spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral (Florida) on a Delta II rocket.
Credit: NASA.
The Dawn spacecraft leaving Earth orbit
Artist's impression of the Dawn spacecraft leaving Earth orbit. The two identical framing cameras are positioned at the front on the top of the satellite bus.
Credit: DLR.
Seventy-metre NASA antennas in Canberra
The control of the Dawn spacecraft and the reception of the data are undertaken by means of three 70-metre NASA antennas in Goldstone (California), Madrid and Canberra.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Dawn mission logo
Dawn mission logo. Dawn is a mission in NASA's Discovery programme, and an outstanding example of international cooperation with partners in Germany and Italy. The scientific management of the mission lies with the University of California in Los Angeles.
The Dawn mission was launched on 27 September 2007 at 07:34 local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a Delta II Heavy 2925H-9.5 rocket including a Star 48 upper stage. The objective of the mission is the most thorough investigation of two asteroids: Vesta and Ceres. With Dawn, researchers expect to find out what happened during the first few millions of years after the planets were formed.
The Dawn mission is headed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). JPL is a department of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The University of California in Los Angeles is responsible for the scientific part of the mission. The German camera system on board the spacecraft was developed and built under the management of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau, in collaboration with the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin and the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering, Braunschweig. The camera project is financially supported by the Max Planck Society, DLR and NASA/JPL.
Facts of the Dawn mission
Last modified:15/08/2012 12:21:31