[FPSPACE] Dawn - mission to asteroids Vesta and Ceres

[LARRY KLAES]

Dawn - mission to asteroids Vesta and Ceres

(Science Show: 15/03/2008)

Vesta and Ceres are the two biggest asteroids in the
asteroid belt. Vesta is barren. Ceres is a mystery. We
have no meteorites from Ceres. One in 20 meteorites
that fall on the Earth are from Vesta. So why is there
nothing from Ceres? Might the meteorites evaporate?
Might they be made of water?

Dawn is a mission launched September 2007 going to
the asteroid belt. Arrival time is 2011. One year at Vesta
will be spent mapping the surface. A spectrometer will
identify minerals. At low altitude, 200km above the surface,
gravity will be measured. Vesta and Ceres are seen as the
building block of planets.

The challenge will be in avoiding asteroids when Dawn is
travelling between the asteroids in the asteroid belt.

Full transcript here:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2008/2190092.htm