Showing posts with label DAWN MISSION. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DAWN MISSION. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

ION PROPULSION ENGINE TESTED

 

FROM: NASA
The Engine Burns Blue
This image shows a cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster in development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., that uses xenon ions for propulsion. An earlier version of this solar-electric propulsion engine has been flying on NASA's Dawn mission to the asteroid belt.

This engine is being considered as part of the Asteroid Initiative, a proposal to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. This image was taken through a porthole in a vacuum chamber at JPL where the ion engine is being tested.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

VESTA ASTEROID CRATER CLOSEUP


FROM: NASA
This colorized image from NASA’s Dawn mission shows temperature variations at Tarpeia Crater, near the south pole of the giant asteroid Vesta. Obtained by the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer, data show the warmest areas in white, measuring about minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius). The dark areas are the coldest, with temperatures at or below minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 100 degrees Celsius). The variations in the red shading indicate the intensity of the emitted light in the 5-micron wavelength, which is indicative of the surface temperature. The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer obtained the images during Dawn’s low-altitude mapping orbit (130 miles or 210 kilometers in altitude) on Feb. 5, 2012. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/INAF

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