NASA probe headed to scan asteroids

NASA launched its Dawn probe from Florida's Cape Canaveral this morning, to explore two giant asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. It will be the first spacecraft to orbit and study the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres.

Dawn was carried on a Delta II rocket that blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Orlando at 7:35 a.m.

An endeavor to orbit two different celestial bodies was not attempted earlier as such large amount of fuel would not have been possible but the Dawn spacecraft is powered by solar-powered electric engines that ionize and expel xenon gas. It will create a constant, low thrust, which will drive Dawn at 5,500 miles an hour (8,800 kilometers an hour) after a year, using just 15 gallons (57 liters) of fuel.

As it reaches the orbit around Earth, Dawn is to stretch out its solar wing panels and start pulling energy to power its ion engines, which will electrically charge xenon gas and pass it through a magnetic field.

It will take around four years for Dawn to reach the orbiting asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. On reaching its target spot, the probe that weighs 2,600-pound (1,200-kilogram), will start scanning the largest two objects among the asteroids and look for clues that may help scientists locate some links between the rocky inner planets of the solar system and the farther gaseous bodies, NASA said.

The complete mission will last eight years.

Although Vesta and Ceres are not very far from each other, the two bodies are said to be formed under vastly separate conditions. “One is rocky; the other may very well be icy. Yet these two diverse bodies reside in essentially the same neighborhood,” says NASA’s website.

The probe will first arrive at Vesta and spend about seven months circling and scanning the asteroid. It will then begin its three-year journey to Ceres, and spend about the same amount of time there before ending its mission in 2015.