Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
It was one month ago Monday that NASA’s Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres, and the US space agency issued an update this week assuring that the probe was still in good health and performing “flawlessly” as it continued its research.
Dawn was continuing to thrust using its ion engine as planned, and that force and Ceres’ gravity are combining to slowly maneuver the spacecraft into a circular orbit around the dwarf planet. It continues following its planned trajectory around dark side of Ceres, NASA added.
Getting settled before starting its science campaign
The spacecraft reached Ceres on March following a journey of more than 7 1/2 years. Once it entered orbit, its momentum carried it to a higher altitude, maxing out at an altitude of 46,800 miles (75,400 kilometers) on March 18. As of April 6, Dawn was roughly 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers) above Ceres and was descending towards its first planned science orbit.
NASA said that the next optical navigation images of the dwarf planet are scheduled to be taken on April 10 and April 14, and should be available online following initial analysis by the science team. In the first image, Ceres will resemble a thin crescent, while it will appear slightly larger in the second. Dawn’s prime science campaign is scheduled to begin on April 23, once the probe is at its science orbit altitude of 8,400 miles (13,500 kilometers) above the surface.
Zooming in on Ceres’ two mysterious bright spots
Sometime early next month, the quality of images captures by Dawn should improve to the point where the entire surface will come into view – including the two enigmatic bright spots that have garnered a lot of attention from the scientific community since their discovery earlier this year.
Many scientists have hypothesized about what those bright spots might be. Last month, a study indicated that they were most likely ice, though other experts have said that volcanic activity or patches of salt may have caused those features to reflect sunlight. NASA said that, officially, it remains unknown what those unusual reflections represent, but their true nature should become more clear as Dawn moves closer to the region where those spots are located.
The bright spots will not be in view for the April 10 images, unfortunately, and it is not certain that they will be in view for the April 14 set, the US space agency noted. So it appears as though a definitive answer as to exactly what is causing those features may have to wait.
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