NASA / JPL - Caltech / UCLA / MPS/ DLR/ IDA
DAWN Update... Shown below is a computer-generated image depicting the Dawn spacecraft’s current position from asteroid Vesta. As you can see, Dawn is only 425 miles (684 kilometers) above Vesta, and orbiting the rocky body at a relative speed of 302 mph (even though Dawn is actually traveling at a velocity of around 45,000 mph in space). A new photo of Vesta (shown above) was released online by NASA today. Dawn has just entered its high altitude mapping orbit after being in an initial survey orbit at the protoplanet from August 11 through 31. In July of next year, Dawn will depart from Vesta and head for its second and final target: the dwarf planet Ceres, where the ion engine-powered spacecraft will arrive in February of 2015.
NASA / JPL - Gregory J. Whiffen
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