Showing posts with label Vesta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vesta. Show all posts

Monday, November 28, 2011

Landslide on Vesta...

The Dawn robotic explorer is currently orbiting the asteroid Vesta, returning tons of science data and imagery.  At right (click to enlarge) is a section of Vesta's surface showing a large cliff (20 km/12 miles high) and what appear to be landslides.  Via APOD, of course...

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Dawn at Vesta...

The Dawn spacecraft has been inserted into orbit around the asteroid Vesta, and this is the first (of many!) science photos to be returned (as usual, click to enlarge).  Dawn is the first spacecraft to be completely reliant on a super-efficient ion propulsion system (instead of a chemical rocket) – not so long ago, these could only be found in science fiction.  You could fairly call this mission a proof of the system's viability...