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Dawn Mission Outreach E-Bulletin                              40th Edition      August 3, 2012

 SAVE THE DATE: DAWN MISSIONCAST

September 8, 2012

Hasta La Vesta!
12:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Dawn virtual flight
Watch the video simulation of Dawn cruising around Vesta!

We've spent a phenomenal year at Vesta, gathering data close up and far away with Dawn's international payload of instruments. Our mission extension means the spacecraft's time at the mini-planet concludes in late August, after gaining additional views of its north polar region. Soon we will be saying Hasta la vista, Vesta, to our favorite giant asteroid as we begin our journey to dwarf planet Ceres!

 

How are we celebrating?

Connect with Dawn team members and fellow Dawn mission fans in real time! Dawn scientists and engineers will share mission stories and answer questions submitted via Facebook and Twitter in a live, interactive video event.


How can you participate?

Join the MissionCast from your computer.

o Find out more information!

Host a Hasta La Vesta Event!

o Use the MissionCast as a springboard for your own event!

THE LONG GOOD-BYE
July 25, 2012

Dawnpartures
From Dawn's Chief Engineer, Dr. Marc Rayman:
Dawn has completed the final intensive phase of its extraordinary exploration of Vesta, and has now begun its gradual departure. Propelled by its uniquely efficient ion propulsion system, the probe is spiraling ever higher, reversing the winding path it followed into orbit last year.  

- Excerpted from July's Dawn Journal

 

Read this summer's Dawn Journals for a great overview of Dawn's instruments' impressive accomplishments this year:

✓ June 30, 2012: Data gathering during the spacecraft's final, high altitude orbits of Vesta.
✓ July 25, 2012: Find out about Dawn's long good-bye as it readies to leave Vesta for Ceres. 

FOLLOW DAWN!

Get on-the-minute mission and science updates during this unprecedented transition as Dawn gets ready to say good-bye to giant asteroid Vesta and begin its remarkable journey to another member of the main asteroid belt, dwarf planet Ceres: a first for humankind! Follow the Dawn Mission on Facebook, Twitter, and our RSS Feed.
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Dawn Mission Outreach E-News features information about the mission, its outreach website, and products, services, and materials available from the Dawn Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) team. Dawn is the ninth Discovery mission in NASA's Science Mission Directorate and is a collaborative partnership made up of the University of California, Los Angeles; Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Orbital Sciences Corporation; Los Alamos National Laboratory; German Aerospace Center; Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research; Italian Space Agency; and Italian National Institute of Astrophysics. Dawn outreach materials are developed under contract by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), Denver, CO.