NASA Dawn asteroid mission told to ‘stand down’ |
NASA Dawn asteroid mission told to ‘stand down’ |
Nov 7 2005, 03:55 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
NASA Dawn Asteroid Mission Told To ‘Stand Down’ .
The decision to stand down, according to SPACE.com sources, appears related to budget-related measures and workforce cutbacks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/051107_dawn_qown.html Rakhir |
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Aug 4 2006, 04:35 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1636 Joined: 9-May 05 From: Lima, Peru Member No.: 385 |
The Dawn proyect is in going. It has been undergoing a very rigurous testing, inclusive wht the steriling process in order not to contaminate to Ceres and Vestas asteroides. See the new very detailed testing updates.
Dawn continues to keep its human handlers very busy as preparations continue on schedule to meet the planned opening of the launch period on June 20, 2007. Much of June 2006 was devoted to conducting the comprehensive performance tests (CPTs) described in the previous log. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Dawn_Con..._Tests_999.html The ion engines were tested up to 10 times harder than the expected for the mission with success. Each of the three ion thrusters will be mounted on a mechanism that allows its pointing direction to be fine tuned by other software on the spacecraft. As we will see in the next log, this accurate aiming is essential, so if one of these mechanisms fails, the attached thruster would be useless. To verify the robustness of the design for the mechanism, a test unit was subjected to 10 times the amount of work the ones to be flown on Dawn will have to provide. The performance was flawless. Rodolfo |
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