Dawn Gets Extra Time to Explore Vesta

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
jccook@jpl.nasa.gov

News release: 2012-107 April 18, 2012

Dawn Gets Extra Time to Explore Vesta

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-107&cid=release_2012-107

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA's Dawn mission has received official confirmation that 40
extra days have been added to its exploration of the giant asteroid Vesta, the second most
massive object in the main asteroid belt. The mission extension allows Dawn to continue
its scientific observations at Vesta until Aug. 26, while still arriving at the dwarf planet
Ceres at the same originally scheduled target date in February 2015.

"We are leveraging our smooth and successful operations at Vesta to provide for even
more scientific discoveries for NASA and the world." said Robert Mase, Dawn project
manager based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "This extra time
will allow us to extend our scientific investigation and learn more about this mysterious
world."

The extension will not require any new funding, and will draw on financial reserves that
have been carefully managed by the Dawn project. The flexibility provided by the
spacecraft's use of efficient ion propulsion system allows it to maintain its originally
planned Ceres arrival.

The extension allows for extra observations at Dawn's current low-altitude mapping orbit
(average altitude 130 miles or 210 kilometers), which will now last until May 1. The
additional time enables the gamma ray and neutron detector to build the best possible
maps of the elemental composition of Vesta's surface and improve data for the gravity
experiment, the two primary scientific investigations at the low-altitude orbit. The
spacecraft's camera and spectrometer are also obtaining additional high-resolution
images.

Additional time will also be spent in the planned second high-altitude mapping orbit later
this summer. When Dawn arrived at Vesta in July 2011, much of the northern hemisphere
was in shadow. But with the passage of time, more of that area will bask in sunshine.

"Dawn has beamed back to us such dazzling Vestan vistas that we are happy to stay a
little longer and learn more about this special world," said Christopher Russell, Dawn's
principal investigator at UCLA. "While we have this one-of-a-kind opportunity to orbit
Vesta, we want to make the best and most complete datasets that we can."

Dawn's mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Dawn is a project of the
directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences
Corp. in Dulles, Va., designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center,
the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the
Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international partners on the mission team.

For more information about the Dawn mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/dawn
and http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov .

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