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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Dec 29 2010, 01:44 AM
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#2
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
I doubt that it will be possible for Dawn to land safely on Ceres. That's a much more massive body than Eros, and since the spacecraft would have to use its thrusters for the descent (main drive wouldn't be much help) I would be surprised if enough RCS fuel will remain by then even if the thrusters' performance is up to the task.
I would bet that any XM will involve one or more opportune flybys of accessible Main Belt objects. Personally, I'd love to see a flyby of one of these suspected volatile-rich 'dead comets' if that turns out to be at all possible. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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