A New Day for Dawn
Image Credit: William K. Hartmann; Courtesy of UCLA
It appeared the DAWN mission had been officially cancelled back on March 3rd. Several days later, NASA agreed to review that decision, a move apparently made possible via new management procedures implemented by the agency’s Administrator, Michael Griffin. NASA announced today that the mission has been reinstated.
The full sequence of events and convoluted fiscal jockeying have been most trying for scientists involved with the project (and the scientific community in general, for that matter, due to this budgetary environment where space science has been forced to take a backseat). To be honest, the situation leaves me somewhat puzzled as I haven’t been able to understand all the root causes. Perhaps more knowledgeable parties will offer insightful commentaries within the next day or so to shed some light on matters (and I’ll post additions in that case). For the time being, however, I’m more delighted by the welcome news of the mission’s reinstatement than anything else. DAWN offers a huge potential for scientific return.
Part of NASA’s Discovery Program, DAWN will closely study Vesta and Ceres, two of the solar system’s largest asteroids. NASA Associate Administrator Rex Geveden stated in today’s media teleconference that DAWN should launch in mid-2007.
Read more at The Planetary Society weblog.
4 Responses to “A New Day for Dawn”
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Awesome! I can’t wait to see Ceres and Vesta (well, I guess I will have to anyway.
). Pity we can’t send a manned mission…yet.
Apparently it’s all we can do to send an unmanned one — I’ll gladly settle for that, for now.
This is good news, but then why don’t I feel more exuberant? I guess it’s because other programs will suffer as a result, despite this one now going ahead. It also could be that I was just reading NASA Watch and the bit about Mike Griffin supporting Tom Delay. ~Ugh~ The man makes me ill…I don’t care how good he’s at getting money, he is just…just…need I go on?
NASA seems to be giving scientists a rollercoaster ride (maybe it’s always been that way, but I didn’t pay close attention), but I think the current political climate just heightens this. So much money down the drain towards futile efforts, when we could be getting more photons, right?
Well, at least DAWN has a new life.
never seen before events are quite great one for the people of earth, and it is possible today due to the nasa’s different missions in the space, to see “any object” in the universe.