MISSION
Mission Objectives
The top level question that the mission addresses is the role of size and water in determining the evolution of the planets. Ceres and Vesta are the right two bodies with which to address this question, as they are the most massive of the protoplanets, baby planets whose growth was interrupted by the formation of Jupiter. Ceres is very primitive and wet while Vesta is evolved and dry. The instrumentation to be flown is complete, flight- proven and similar to that used for Mercury, Mars, the Moon, Eros and comets. The science team consists of leading experts in the investigation of the rocky and icy planets using proven measurement and analysis techniques.
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Dawn has the potential for making many paradigm-shifting discoveries. Ceres may have active hydrological processes leading to seasonal polar caps of water frost, altering our understanding of the interior of these bodies. Vesta may have rocks more strongly magnetized than on Mars, altering our ideas of how and when dynamos arise with important lessons for Mars, Earth and Mercury. Ceres may have a thin, permanent atmosphere distinguishing it from the other minor planets.
The three principal scientific drivers for the mission are first that it captures the earliest moments in the origin of the solar system enabling us to understand the conditions under which these objects formed. Second, Dawn determines the nature of the building blocks from which the terrestrial planets formed, improving our understanding of this formation. Finally, it contrasts the formation and evolution of two small planets that followed very different evolutionary paths so that we understand what controls that evolution.
This mission
is very
timely.
Its journey
in time
to understand
the conditions
at the
formation
of the
solar system
provides
context
for the
understanding
of the
observation
of extra
solar-planetary
systems.
It provides
data on
the role
of size
and water
in planetary
evolution
and forms
a bridge
between
the exploration
of the
rocky inner
solar system
and the
icy outer
solar system.
Finally,
it completes
the first
order exploration
of the
inner solar
system,
addresses
NASA's
goal of
understanding
the origin
and evolution
of the
solar system
and complements
ongoing
investigations
of Mercury,
Earth and
Mars.
- See published article on description of mission
