Dawn Mission

Why in news?

• Analysis of NASA data from its “Dawn mission” suggests the presence of an ocean of ‘salty water’ on dwarf planet Ceres.

About Dawn Mission:

• Dawn was a space probe launched by NASA in September 2007 with the mission of studying two proto-planets of the asteroid belt namely Vesta and Ceres.
• Dawn is the first spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial bodies and the first to visit a dwarf planet.
• It was the first NASA exploratory mission to use ion propulsion, which enabled it to enter and leave the orbit of two celestial bodies.

What is Ceres and Vesta?

• Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
• Ceres has a diameter of about 950 km, which is more than one-fourth of Earth’s moon.
• Vesta is the second-most-massive and second-largest body in the asteroid belt after Ceres.
• Vesta is the brightest asteroid visible from Earth.
• Vesta is rocky, while dwarf planet Ceres is icy.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Which of the following interplanetary missions primarily studied Ceres, the dwarf planet?
(a)Juno mission
(b)Viking mission
(c)Dawn mission
(d)MAVEN mission

Answer to prelims question