Dawn:
On an eight-year, 4.9 billion-kilometer (3-billion-mile) mission to answer basic questions about the formation of planets in our solar system, NASA's unmanned Dawn spacecraft will be the first to orbit two planetary bodies on a single voyage.
Beginning in August 2011, Dawn will make the first of two rendezvous with the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres (in 2015), two of the largest objects that lie within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists theorize that objects like Vesta and Ceres may be the "seeds" of planets that never formed. Dawn's scientific instruments will measure shape, surface topography, tectonic history, elemental and mineral composition, and search for water-bearing minerals. Dawn spacecraft itself will also be used to measure the masses and gravity fields of Vesta and Ceres.
Read More About Dawn
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