The Dawn mission at the asteroid Vesta
The Dawn mission at the asteroid Vesta
Dawn was a NASA Discovery Program mission launched in 2007 on a research mission to the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. The mission's first target was the asteroid Vesta, which was observed from orbits of varying altitudes between July 2011 and September 2012. Vesta was almost completely mapped using the four instruments on board Dawn. The mineralogical composition of the asteroid was explored, and its gravitational field was precisely determined. The Dawn spacecraft then flew on to its second target, the dwarf planet Ceres.
