After 11 years of discovery, NASA’s Dawn mission is coming to an end.
Dawn’s mission was to set out to explore the two largest bodies in the asteroid belt, Ceres and Vesta. The mission was named Dawn because scientists were hoping to learn more about the beginnings of our solar system. Using ion propulsion, Dawn was able to become the first interplanetary space ship. What does that mean, you might ask? It means that Dawn was able to go and orbit Vesta and then move to orbit around Ceres.
So what did they learn?
Vesta, the second largest asteroid in the belt, appears to be very similar to our moon. Ceres, on the other hand, had some surprising characteristics. They now believe that Ceres may have been formed further out in the solar system because its most similar to the moons of our outer planets. Another surprising discovery was that they found sodium carbonate on the surface of Ceres. Even though you can find sodium carbonate on some of Earth’s lakes, it is very rare to find it in our solar system.
Why is this mission coming to an end?
That’s simple! It’s running out of fuel. According to NASA, Dawn won’t be able to send messages back to Earth as early as September or October.
This mission was a dream come true for Marc Rayman, the chief mission director, who has been dreaming of space exploration since he was 4 years old!
If you could direct a space mission, what would you set out to explore?
Source/Photo Credit: Nasa.gov
Aerospace Kid 