Dawn Spacecraft to Shut Down.

[daniel l.]

The Dawn Spacecraft, which has explored Ceres and Vesta, will soon be shut down as its fuel reserves are depleted.

Apparently, NASA is dedicated to ensuring that Dawn never touches Ceres itself, and intend to place it in a safe parking orbit indefinitely -- or until a future spacecraft can retrieve it or destroy it.

I, for one, am glad that we aren't sending all of our planetary orbiters to their destruction upon End of Life. We gotta have something to put in the museum, right?

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/satellites/a23085942/dawn-spacecraft-nasa-out-of-fuel/

Edited November 3, 2018 by daniel l.

[Scotius]

Question is: for how long this parking orbit can stay "safe". Asteroid belt is not the most gravitationally stable place in Solar System. On the other hand - Ceres is a decently sized body, and it might be able to keep this mini-satellite even against Jupiter's pull.

[kerbiloid]

So, instead of hitting a selected place and consider it as dirty, all surface of Ceres will be compromised if they don't find it in orbit in the future.

[wumpus]

10 km/s delta-v (*after* getting to orbit) will tend to cause spacecraft to run out of fuel.

[Terwin]

7 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

So, instead of hitting a selected place and consider it as dirty, all surface of Ceres will be compromised if they don't find it in orbit in the future.

Presumably debris would be fairly recognizable if it did eventually crash, and at worst it would be a long time after the time of a planned crash, resulting in a smaller time for any contamination to expand(assuming it can)

[NSEP]

8 hours ago, daniel l. said:

We gotta have something to put in the museum, right?

Dawn will likely join the Tesla Roadster and Vangaurd 1 in the Interplanetary Museum of Science and Technology.

[MaverickSawyer]

Well, it's happened... Dawn has missed the last two days of scheduled check-in transmissions. NASA has declared end of the mission as a result.

[ProtoJeb21]

16 hours ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Well, it's happened... Dawn has missed the last two days of scheduled check-in transmissions. NASA has declared end of the mission as a result.

These last few weeks sure have sucked for NASA probes. At least Hubble is back online. 

[YNM]

On 9/12/2018 at 2:37 PM, daniel l. said:

The Dawn Spacecraft ... shut down as its fuel reserves are depleted.

... ensuring that Dawn never touches Ceres itself ...

Is it too late to eject it off Ceres system ?

EDIT : Alright, I missed the news. Rest in Peace, don't get into pieces !

On 9/12/2018 at 11:37 PM, NSEP said:

join the Tesla Roadster and Vangaurd 1 in the Interplanetary Museum of Science and Technology.

Also Ulysses and ICE/ISEE-3.

Edited November 2, 2018 by YNM

[kerbiloid]

When the protomolecule will reach Ceres, it will switch on and revenge.

[Ho Lam Kerman]

Godspeed Dawn.

It will stay in orbit around Ceres, not longer an outpost for planetary exploration, but as a monument to it.

You will be missed as a mission of firsts.

[Racescort666]

3 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

These last few weeks sure have sucked for NASA probes. At least Hubble is back online. 

Chandra had an issue and is back up as well. We kind of knew that Kepler and Dawn were on their way out but Hubble and Chandra going down is a pretty big deal. As you said, fortunately, they're back up.

[ProtoJeb21]

2 hours ago, Racescort666 said:

Chandra had an issue and is back up as well. We kind of knew that Kepler and Dawn were on their way out but Hubble and Chandra going down is a pretty big deal. As you said, fortunately, they're back up.

I never heard that Chandra was brought back online. I guess the press loves Hubble more. 

[wumpus]

29 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

I never heard that Chandra was brought back online. I guess the press loves Hubble more. 

I mentioned it in the Hubble thread: https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/178825-the-hubble-space-telescope-is-fixed/&page=2&tab=comments#comment-3473903

Scott Manley mentioned it (and put it in the title): Soyuz, Hubble, Chandra & Kepler Updates (Recovering, Fixing, Fixed, Probably Dead) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVAIsZwnMGw

But the only reason I knew of it was a social media group member (that's been around since roughly web 2.0 was a new thing) was someone senior on the project.

 

[kerbiloid]

Is Opportunity still alive?

[Vanamonde]

Some posts have been removed. Can we just talk about space stuff instead of what others should or shouldn't be saying about space stuff? 

[Hydrothermalventclam]

On 11/2/2018 at 8:12 PM, kerbiloid said:

Is Opportunity still alive?

It does not look like it, but NASA is still trying to contact it.  There is a small chance that it is still alive.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Hydrothermalventclam