Submission + - Dawn's Early Light: Ceres and Vesta (scientificblogging.com)
polycat writes: "After a frustrating set of July launch delays, a decision has been made by the Dawn Project to launch Dawn in its September / October launch window. Such a window is Dawn's last launch window for the next 15 years or so.
What, you haven't heard of Dawn?
You are not alone. NASA's Dawn mission to orbit the asteroids Vesta and Ceres has existed mostly out of the public eye, supported by a small, but dedicated group of scientists and engineers, of whom many live and work outside of the United States, because two of the three Dawn instruments were built by NASA's foreign partners. 'Out of the public eye' for Dawn also, at times, meant literally out, because Dawn was twice canceled by NASA.
Such a rocky road of mission development seems appropriate for Dawn, however, since its goal is to investigate the early dawn of solar system evolution, out of which the asteroids and their larger cousins, our rocky (terrestrial) planets formed."
What, you haven't heard of Dawn?
You are not alone. NASA's Dawn mission to orbit the asteroids Vesta and Ceres has existed mostly out of the public eye, supported by a small, but dedicated group of scientists and engineers, of whom many live and work outside of the United States, because two of the three Dawn instruments were built by NASA's foreign partners. 'Out of the public eye' for Dawn also, at times, meant literally out, because Dawn was twice canceled by NASA.
Such a rocky road of mission development seems appropriate for Dawn, however, since its goal is to investigate the early dawn of solar system evolution, out of which the asteroids and their larger cousins, our rocky (terrestrial) planets formed."
