← Mission archivePlanetary science
Dawn
CompletedNASA
Image: NASA/JPL · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- Launched
- 27 Sept 200711:34:00 UTC
- Last contact
- 30 Oct 2018
- End declared
- 1 Nov 2018
- Duration
- 11 years 1 month
The first spacecraft to orbit two different worlds beyond Earth, the giant asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres, made possible by ion propulsion.
Milestones
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Launch27 Sept 2007Mars flyby18 Feb 2009Enters orbit around Vesta16 Jul 2011Enters orbit around Ceres6 Mar 2015Runs out of fuel1 Nov 2018
Spacecraft
Ion-engine orbiter with solar arrays nearly 20 m across, carrying a camera and two spectrometers.
- Launch mass
- 1,218 kg
- Dry mass
- 747 kg
- Size
- 1.8 m × 1.3 m, span 19.7 m
- Power
- Solar
- Last contact
- 30 Oct 2018
- End declared
- 1 Nov 2018
- Designator
- 2007-043A
Mission details from science.nasa.gov.
