The Dawn Mission to Minor Planets 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres

Dawn is the first mission to orbit a main belt asteroid and the first scientific mission to use ion propulsion.  Major objectives of this mission include mapping of the surfaces of 4 Vesta and 1 Ceres,  determining its topography from stereo measurements, determining its mineralogy, measuring its elemental composition and obtaining  gravity data.  This book describes the Dawn mission, its exploration and scientific objectives, the instruments that accomplish those objectives, the operations plan and the education and outreach plan.  It is directed to those studying asteroids and the evolution of the solar system. 

This volume will be a valuable reference for anyone who uses data from the instruments of the DAWN mission.

Previously published in Space Science Reviews, Vol. 163/1-4, 2012.

From the Contents: The Dawn Mission to Vesta and Ceres.- Vesta and Ceres: Crossing the History of the Solar System.- The Origin and Evolution of the Asteroid Belt—Implications for Vesta and Ceres.- Ceres: Its Origin, Evolution and Structure and Dawn’s Potential Contribution.- Origin, Internal Structure and Evolution of 4 Vesta.- The Surface Composition of Ceres.- Surface Composition of Vesta: Issues and Integrated Approach.- HED Meteorites and Their Relationship to the Geology of Vesta and the Dawn Mission.- The Dawn Spacecraft.- The Dawn Ion Propulsion System.

Professor C. T. Russell is a member of the faculties of both the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics and the Department of Earth and Space Sciences. He is acting System-wide Director of IGPP. He is the head of the Space Physics Center in IGPP, UCLA and the Director of the UCLA Branch of the California Space Grant Consortium. He is the principal investigator on the POLAR mission; a co-investigator on the magnetometer team on the Cassini mission to Saturn; the ROMAP investigation on the Rosetta mission to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko; the IMPACT investigation on the STEREO mission to study solar and solar wind disturbances; the THEMIS mission to study substorms; and the magnetometer investigation on the Venus Express mission to study the solar wind interaction with Venus. He is the principal investigator of the Dawn mission to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres.

Dr. Carol Raymond earned her B.S. in Geology and Physics from the University of Georgia, her M.A. and M.Phil  in Geological Sciences from Columbia University and her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Columbia University. Her current research interests include solar system evolution (with a focus on the geophysical evolution of Mars, Vesta and Ceres), the Sun-Earth system and solid Earth/climate interactions. She is also the recipient of the NASA Magset Group Achievement Award.