EntityQ48558· pop 61· linked from 1,305 articles

Dawn

NASA space probe exploring Vesta and Ceres

AI overview

Dawn is a NASA spacecraft that traveled to and studied two of the largest objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter—first the asteroid Vesta and then the dwarf planet Ceres. The mission matters because it revealed detailed information about these ancient worlds, helping scientists understand the early history of our solar system and how planets form.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Article

Dawn mission patch Discovery Program

Dawn is a retired space probe that was launched by NASA in September 2007 with the mission of studying two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt: Vesta and Ceres. In the fulfillment of that mission—the ninth in NASA's Discovery Program—Dawn entered orbit around Vesta on July 16, 2011, and completed a 14-month survey mission before leaving for Ceres in late 2012. It entered orbit around Ceres on March 6, 2015. In 2017, NASA announced that the planned nine-year mission would be extended until the probe's hydrazine fuel supply was depleted. On November 1, 2018, NASA announced that Dawn had depleted its hydrazine, and the mission was ended. The derelict probe remains in a stable orbit around Ceres.