Dawn's last mission extensions at Ceres, From XMO3 to EOM |
Dawn's last mission extensions at Ceres, From XMO3 to EOM |
Feb 1 2017, 02:37 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 544 Joined: 17-November 05 From: Oklahoma Member No.: 557 |
This thread will cover all final phases of the Dawn mission, the end of which is not certain at this point.
XMO3 was suppose to be the final orbit, but now plans have changed and it will move into a new higher altitude and higher phase orbit soon. This will be XMO4. An interesting monthly journal for January details the plan: Dawn Journal 31 January 2017 |
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Feb 19 2017, 05:30 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2113 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
There's probably already samples of Ceres on Earth, just not yet identified as such. All those craters must have made sprayed ejecta everywhere and some meteorites must be here now, just by probability.
Otherwise a sample return mission might in fact be easier than Mars; lack of atmosphere and low gravity making up for the greater difference in orbits... |
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Feb 19 2017, 03:50 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4260 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
lack of atmosphere Doesn't atmosphere help you at Mars? You'd need a heck of a lot of fuel to brake from orbit and land without atmospheric drag. The drag would affect a launch from the surface, but with low launch speeds and thin atmosphere I'm guessing that's not a big effect. Of course lower gravity at Ceres means lack of atmosphere won't be as important as it would've been at Mars. |
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