Image Credit NASA/JPL While much of the space science community is anxiously awaiting the July 14th flyby of the New Horizons probe at the system headlined by former planet Pluto, a much more accessible dwarf planet, Ceres seems determined to keep its own place in the spotlight. In addition to the growing number of mysterious […]
NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) ion thruster. / Image Credit NASA. After arriving at the dwarf planet Ceres one month ago, NASA’s ion powered Dawn spacecraft entered an initial capture orbit which took it to a maximum altitude of more than 46,000 miles above the icy body. Firing steadily, a 2.6 kw ion engine, one […]
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute 2015 is shaping up as a banner year for imaging icy worlds. The ion powered Dawn probe arrived at the Dwarf planet Ceres in the Main Asteroid Belt on March 6th, and is currently on that world’s shadowed side, still firing its engines as it seeks a circular science orbit […]
Latest image of Ceres, taken from 29,000 miles miles away. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Ceres just keeps getting more interesting. From NASA.gov: “Dwarf planet Ceres continues to puzzle scientists as NASA’s Dawn spacecraft gets closer to being captured into orbit around the object. The latest images from Dawn, taken nearly 29,000 miles (46,000 kilometers) from Ceres, […]
Two enlarged images of Ceres taken on February 12 / Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Dawn’s arrival at Ceres is now just over two weeks away. From NASA.gov: “Craters and mysterious bright spots are beginning to pop out in the latest images of Ceres from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. These images, taken Feb. 12 at a distance of […]
Ceres Photographed on January 15 / Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Closing in on its March 6 rendezvous with the dwarf planet Ceres, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has provided its best image yet of the enigmatic ice world which is the largest object in the main asteroid belt. The images, shown below in a looped 2 second YouTube […]
Ceres In Sight : Image Credit NASA 2014 is not quite over with just yet, but it is not too soon to begin marking your calendars for what could be one of the most intriguing events of 2015, the arrival of the Dawn spacecraft at the dwarf planet Ceres. Having already recorded a 14 month […]
On Thursday, JPL published the above photo with graphic, which depicts the first time the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, or any asteroid for that matter, have been photographed from the surface of the Red Planet. There is an interesting lesson in perspective here, as the release gives a brief mention of the NASA’s truly remarkable […]
NASA is shutting down its NEXT (NASA’s Evolutionary Zenon Thruster) ion engine which has been running continuously at the Glenn Research Center for over five years. From the Glenn Press Release: “The NEXT thruster operated for more than 48,000 hours,” said Michael J. Patterson, principal investigator for NEXT at Glenn. “We will voluntarily terminate this test at […]
Orbital Press Release: ORBITAL-BUILT SATELLITES EXCEED 1,000 YEARS OF CUMULATIVE IN-ORBIT OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCE — Company’s 30-Year History Includes 146 Satellites Built and Launched, With 81 Currently in Full Operations — (Dulles, VA 11 March 2013) – Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that it recently achieved […]
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