Dawn Cruise |
Dawn Cruise |
Sep 27 2007, 12:31 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 100 Joined: 11-October 04 From: Oxford, UK (Glasgow by birth) Member No.: 101 |
Pushing out of Earth orbit now...........
-------------------- "There are 10 types of people in the world - those who understand binary code, and those who don't."
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Sep 28 2007, 07:33 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 648 Joined: 9-May 05 From: Subotica Member No.: 384 |
Just as I thought...nobody in the press conference asked question that I am most interested in...
Dawn is going to visit two biggest asteroids Ceres and Vesta. It is going to enter orbit around these two but there was some words before that it can do few close flybys of some small asteroids as well. I guess that planed flybys are all canceled because slips in launch but there should be new ones. Does anybody know if there are any candidates? -------------------- The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.
Jules H. Poincare My "Astrophotos" gallery on flickr... |
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Sep 28 2007, 04:35 PM
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#3
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
I guess that planed flybys are all canceled because slips in launch but there should be new ones. Gordan's right, there were no flybys planned in advance, not only because of the uncertainty in launch date but because of uncertainty in performance of the ion engines. And there may well not be any flybys of any real quality unless they get very lucky. Unlike a flyby mission, Dawn can directly translate fuel reserves into a much longer mission at its primary targets. Which is a better use of the xenon, a relatively distant view of a small asteroid or another week spent in orbit at Ceres, or a closer orbit, or a different orbit, etc. etc.? It sounds to me like unless the orbital mechanics gods smile upon them with a really great opportunity that lies fortuitously close to the trajectory, the economics won't work out for any other flybys. (The answer to this question was on a Planetary Radio show.) --Emily -------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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