Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Friday November 02 2018, @02:38PM   Printer-friendly
from the that's-two dept.

NASA's Dawn Mission to Asteroid Belt Comes to End

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has gone silent, ending a historic mission that studied time capsules from the solar system's earliest chapter.

Dawn missed scheduled communications sessions with NASA's Deep Space Network on Wednesday, Oct. 31, and Thursday, Nov. 1. After the flight team eliminated other possible causes for the missed communications, mission managers concluded that the spacecraft finally ran out of hydrazine, the fuel that enables the spacecraft to control its pointing. Dawn can no longer keep its antennae trained on Earth to communicate with mission control or turn its solar panels to the Sun to recharge.

The Dawn spacecraft launched 11 years ago to visit the two largest objects in the main asteroid belt. Currently, it's in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres, where it will remain for decades.

Ceres, Vesta, and Dawn.

Also at Ars Technica, The Verge, and Science News.

Previously: NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Nears the End of its Mission
NASA Retires the Kepler Space Telescope after It Runs Out of Hydrazine

Related:


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday November 03 2018, @03:54AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 03 2018, @03:54AM (#757190) Journal

    studied time capsules from the solar system's earliest chapter.

    Why does every astonomy article seem to have a problem with distinguishing assumptions/speculation from fact?

    What was speculative about the quote in question? We do know that asteroids are for the most part ancient objects with origins in the near beginnings of the Solar System and thus qualify well enough for the meaning of "time capsules". Ceres may have a younger surface than that, but Vesta doesn't.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Insightful=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   2