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Asteroid spacecraft Dawn: A change in course near Mars
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During the night of February 17 to 18 2009, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will fly past Mars at a distance of 565 kilometres.
During this targeted manoeuvre, the gravity of the planet effects a change in course that will move the spaceship onto its final trajectory towards the planetoid Vesta, which orbits the Sun in the asteroid belt – at a distance of more than 300 million kilometres. Dawn will reach Vesta in August 2011.
This picture is a photocomposition showing how the craft will approach Mars from its night side and then cross Mars' equator on the day side. Dawn will then fly over the southern hemisphere and move away from Mars again. During the Mars fly-by, numerous photographs will also be taken for test purposes by one of the two German-built cameras on board.
One hour after having been photographed by the Dawn spacecraft, the same area will be photographed by the German stereo camera HRSC (High Resolution Stereo Camera) on board the European spacecraft Mars Express.
Credit: NASA/McREL/DLR.
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Links
DLR Space Agency: Dawn
Max-Planck-Insitut für Sonnensystemforschung - Dawn
NASA-JPL - Dawn Mission Home Page
HRSC - the High Resolution Stereo Camera
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