rocks on the brain: dawn mission to enter vesta orbit soon

Do you think anyone that's interested in the Dawn mission at Vesta has rocks on their brain? How can anyone get worked up about a rock in the asteroid belt, you ask? You must wonder though: What might be discovered in the next year that Dawn orbits the asteroid? The latest NASA update on the Dawn Mission reports that "...the spacecraft to be captured into orbit at approximately 10 p.m. PDT Friday, July 15 (1 a.m. EDT Saturday, July 16)...When Vesta captures Dawn into its orbit, engineers estimate there will be approximately 9,900 miles (16,000 kilometers) between them." There could be the next monolith discovery or a sudden loss of the craft by a rapidly approaching UFO? The Dawn Mission is to provide answers to questions about the formation of our solar system. You have to wonder what else they have in mind - you just never know and it's a reason to keep track!

dawn closing in on vesta

Mission enters exciting phase as Dawn spacecraft closes in on brightest object in asteroid belt, Vesta. The image of Vesta (pictured) is from Hubble telescope, but according to Emily Ladawalla at The Planetary Blog, "By early June, Dawn's images will be higher-resolution than anything achieved from Hubble." A nice mission update with Marc Rayman provided at Planetary Radio. The lastest blog entry at Marc Rayman's Dawn Journal details approach phase to the giant asteroid. "It's a big place," according to Rayman.