• Dawn Journal - April 29, 2017

    From baalke@1:2320/100 to sci.space.news on Tue May 9 23:22:41 2017
    From Newsgroup: sci.space.news


    https://dawnblog.jpl.nasa.gov/2016/04/29/dawn-journal-april-29-2/

    Dawn Journal
    by Dr. Marc Rayman
    April 29, 2017

    Dear Glutdawnous Readers,

    The distant dwarf planet that Dawn is circling is full of mystery and
    yet growing ever more familiar. Ceres, which only last year was hardly
    more than a fuzzy blob against the stars, is now a richly detailed world,
    and our portrait grows more elaborate every day. Having greatly surpassed
    all of its original objectives, the reliable explorer is gathering still
    more data from its unique vantage point. Everyone who hungers for new knowledge about the cosmos or for bold adventures far from Earth can share
    in the sumptuous feast Dawn has been serving.

    One of the major objectives of the mission was to photograph 80 percent
    of Ceres' vast landscape with a resolution of 660 feet (200 meters)
    per pixel. That would provide 150 times the clarity of the powerful Hubble Space Telescope. Dawn has now photographed 99.8 percent with a resolution
    of 120 feet (35 meters) per pixel.

    [Haulani Crater in Enhanced Color]
    This image of Haulani Crater uses color pictures Dawn acquired during
    its third mapping orbit at an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers).
    We saw the crater from the same altitude in black and white here. This
    false color picture highlights differences in composition or other properties that your eye would not be able to detect. In this color scheme, blue
    is associated with geologically young material, consistent with the description

    of the black and white image as showing a young crater. It is easy to
    see that the surrounding region was affected by the formation of the crater. (The last picture below shows the area around another crater that was
    altered by an impact.) Also note the variation in terrain within the crater, including a prominent ridge in the center. The crater is 21 miles (34 kilometers) in diameter.
    Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

    This example of Dawn's extraordinary productivity may appear to be the
    limit of what it could achieve. After all, the spaceship is orbiting at
    an altitude of only 240 miles (385 kilometers), closer to the ground than
    the International Space Station is to Earth, and it will never go lower
    for more pictures. But it is already doing more.

    Since April 11, instead of photographing the scenery directly beneath
    it, Dawn has been aiming its camera to the left and forward as it orbits
    and Ceres rotates. By May 25, it will have mapped most of the globe from
    that angle. Then it will start all over once more, looking instead to
    the right and forward from May 27 through July 10. The different perspectives on the terrain make stereo views, which scientists can combine to bring
    out the full three dimensionality of the alien world. Dawn already accomplished

    this in its third mapping orbit from four times its current altitude,
    but now that it is seeing the sights from so much lower, the new topographical map will be even more accurate.

    [Oxo Crater at LAMO]
    Dawn captured this view of Oxo Crater on Jan. 16 from an altitude of 240
    miles (385 kilometers). Although it is a modest six miles (10 kilometers) across, it is a particularly interesting crater. This is the only location
    (so far) on Ceres where Dawn has clearly detected water. Oxo is the second brightest area on Ceres. Only Occator Crater is brighter. Oxo also displays
    a uniquely large 'slump' in its rim, where a mass of material has
    dropped below the surface.
    Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

    Dawn is also earning extra credit on its assignment to measure the energy
    of gamma rays and neutrons. We have discussed before how the gamma ray
    and neutron detector (GRaND) can reveal the atomic composition down to
    about a yard (meter) underground, and last month we saw initial findings
    about the distribution of hydrogen. However, Ceres' nuclear glow is
    very faint. Scientists already have three times as much GRaND data from
    this low altitude as they had required, and both spectrometers in the instrument will continue to collect data. In effect, Dawn is achieving
    a longer exposure, making its nuclear picture of Ceres brighter and sharper.

    In December we explained how using the radio signal to track the probe's movements allows scientists to chart the gravity field and thereby learn
    about the interior of Ceres, revealing regions of higher and lower density. Once again, Dawn performed even better than expected and achieved the mission's planned accuracy in the third mapping orbit. Because the strength
    of the dwarf planet's gravitational tug depends on the distance, even
    finer measurements of how it varies from location to location are possible
    in this final orbit. Thanks to the continued smooth operation of the mission, scientists now have a gravitational map fully twice as accurate as they
    had anticipated. With additional measurements, they may be able to squeeze
    out a little more detail, perhaps improving it by another 20 percent before reaching the method's limit.

    [Dawn LAMO Image 60]
    Dawn took this picture on Feb. 8 at an altitude of 240 miles (385 kilometers). Prominent in the center is part of a crater wall, which shows many scars
    from subsequent impacts, indicating it is old. Two sizable younger craters with bright material, which is likely some kind of salt, are evident inside the larger crater. Compare the number and size of craters in this scene
    with those in the younger scene below showing an area of the same size.
    Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

    Dawn has dramatically overachieved in acquiring spectra at both visible
    and infrared wavelengths. We have previously delved into how these measurements

    reveal the minerals on the ground and what some of the interesting discoveries are. Having already acquired more than seven times as many visible spectra
    and 21 times as many infrared spectra as originally called for, the spacecraft is adding to its riches with additional measurements. We saw in January
    that VIR has such a narrow view that it will never see all of Ceres from
    this close, so it is programmed to observe features that have caught scientists'
    interest based on the broad coverage from higher altitudes.

    [Dawn LAMO Image 69]
    Dawn took this picture on Feb. 16 (eight days after the picture above)
    at an altitude of 240 miles (385 kilometers). It shows a region northwest
    of Occator Crater, site of the famous bright region (which may become
    one of the most popular tourist destinations on Ceres). (You can locate
    this area in the upper right of the mosaic shown last month.) Compare
    the number and size of craters in this scene with those in the older scene above showing an area of the same size. There are fewer craters here,
    because the material ejected from the impact that excavated Occator resurfaced the area nearby, erasing the craters that had formed earlier. Because
    Occator is relatively young (perhaps 80 million years old), there has
    not been enough time for as many new craters to form as in most other
    areas on Ceres, including the one shown in the previous picture, that
    have been exposed to pelting from interplanetary debris for much longer.
    Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

    Dawn's remarkable success at Ceres was not a foregone conclusion. Of
    course, the flight team has confronted the familiar challenges people encounter every day in the normal routine of piloting an ion-propelled spaceship on a multibillion-mile (multibillion-kilometer) interplanetary journey to orbit and explore two uncharted worlds. But the mission was
    further complicated by the loss of two of the spacecraft's four reaction wheels, as we have recounted before. (In full disclosure, the devices
    aren't actually lost. We know precisely where they are. But given that
    one stopped functioning in 2010 and the other in 2012, they might as well
    be elsewhere in the universe; they don't do Dawn any good.) Without
    three of these units to control its orientation in space, the robot has
    relied on its limited supply of hydrazine, which was not intended to serve this function. But the mission's careful stewardship of the precious propellant has continued to exceed even the optimistic predictions, allowing Dawn good prospects for carrying on its fruitful work. In an upcoming
    Dawn Journal, we will discuss how the last of the dwindling supply of hydrazine may be used for further discoveries.

    In the meantime, Dawn is continuing its intensive campaign to reveal the
    dwarf planet's secrets, and as it does so, it is passing several milestones. The adventurer has now been held in Ceres' tender but firm gravitational embrace longer than it was in orbit around Vesta. (Dawn is the only spacecraft ever to orbit two extraterrestrial destinations, and its mission would
    have been impossible without ion propulsion.) The spacecraft provided
    us with about 31,000 pictures of Vesta, and it has now acquired the same number of Ceres.

    For an interplanetary traveler, terrestrial days have little meaning.
    They are merely a memory of how long a faraway planet takes to turn on
    its axis. Dawn left that planet long ago, and as one of Earth's ambassadors
    to the cosmos, it is an inhabitant of deep space. But for those who keep
    track of its progress yet are still tied to Earth, on May 3 the journey
    will be pi thousand days long. (And for our nerdier friends and selves,
    it will be shortly after 6:47 p.m. PDT.)

    By any measure, Dawn has already accomplished an extraordinary mission,
    and there is more to look forward to as its ambitious expedition continues.

    Dawn is 240 miles (385 kilometers) from Ceres. It is also 3.73 AU (346
    million miles, or 558 million kilometers) from Earth, or 1,455 times as
    far as the moon and 3.70 times as far as the sun today. Radio signals, traveling at the universal limit of the speed of light, take one hour
    and two minutes to make the round trip.

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