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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

NASA's Dawn Mission to Asteroid Belt Comes to End [nasa.gov]

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 [nasa.gov] 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 [wikipedia.org], Vesta [wikipedia.org], and Dawn [wikipedia.org].

Also at Ars Technica [arstechnica.com], The Verge [theverge.com], and Science News [sciencenews.org].

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

Related:

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

Pluto and Ceres [soylentnews.org]
After Eight Years, NASA's Dawn Probe Brings Dwarf Planet Ceres Into Closest Focus [soylentnews.org]
NASA's Dawn Orbiter Finds a Mountain on Ceres [soylentnews.org]
Dawn Spies Magnesium Sulphate and Possible Geological Activity on Ceres [soylentnews.org]
Ceres' Cryovolcano Ahuna Mons Formed in the Geologically Recent Past [soylentnews.org]
Ceres's Cryovolcanoes Viscously Relax Into Nothingness [soylentnews.org]
Organic Molecules Found on Ceres [soylentnews.org]
Early Asteroids May Have Been Made of Mud Rather Than Rock [soylentnews.org]
Dawn Mission Extended at Ceres [soylentnews.org]
Ceres May Have Had a Global Surface Ocean in the Past [soylentnews.org]
Bright Areas on Ceres Suggest Geologic Activity [soylentnews.org]
Dawn's Orbit Around Ceres: A New Low [soylentnews.org]
Dawn's Orbit Around Ceres: First Images [soylentnews.org]
Dawn Spacecraft Captures Closest-Ever Images of Ceres' Shiny Occator Crater [soylentnews.org]

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