The October meeting of the TVA is honored to provide, in addition to our regular features including What's Up, a special presentation by Dr Marc Rayman of the JPL. This is a wonderful opportunity to get a close up of what great things are being done to explore our Near Earth neighborhood. General information is as follows:
To Boldly Go -- Well, You Know: NASA’s Dawn Mission to the Asteroid Belt
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The ambitious and exciting Dawn mission, launched in September 2007, is one of NASA's most remarkable ventures into the solar system. The spacecraft is exploring Vesta today and later will travel to Ceres; these are among the last uncharted worlds in the inner solar system. They are the two most massive residents of the asteroid belt, that vast collection of bodies between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres is so large that it is included in the category of dwarf planets, along with Pluto. The alien landscapes Dawn reveals should provide humankind with a new perspective on the solar system. Remnants from the time that planets were formed, Ceres and Vesta hold clues that will help scientists understand the dawn of the solar system.
Dawn entered orbit around Vesta in July and is returning astonishing views of this fascinating world. It is the only spacecraft ever to orbit an object in the asteroid belt and is the first ever targeted to orbit any two solar system destinations. Such a mission would be impossible without the use of ion propulsion, a technology that has mostly been in the domain of science fiction, but which was tested extensively on the Deep Space 1 mission, paving the way for Dawn.
Dr. Marc Rayman will describe the Dawn mission and its use of ion propulsion as well as its two exotic destinations. He also will share the excitement and profundity of controlling a spacecraft in deep space.
