DAWN resumes extended thrusting - June 30, 2009 and at Glenn Research - A more efficient spacecraft engine

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dawn/main/index.html
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23120/page1/

Matt asked if I had heard anything about a new Voyager mission and I didn't remember hearing anything so went looking with Google.
I found a mission, (IBEX Interstellar Boundary Explorer) that was looking at the boundary of our Solar System, - http://ibex.swri.edu/ - which made me think of the Voyagers and the
Pioneer 10-11 missions, but it is in an Earth like orbit.

The New Horizons mission to Pluto is going out there but more like the Pioneer 10 craft than a Voyager.
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html
Where is the New Horizons Spacecraft Now?

New Horizons Sees Changes in Jupiter System

New Horizons' voyage through the Jupiter system in 2007 provided a bird's-eye view of a dynamic planet that has changed since the last close-up looks by NASA spacecraft. A combination of trajectory, timing and technology allowed it to explore details no probe had seen before, such as lightning near Jupiter’s poles, the life cycle of fresh ammonia clouds, boulder-size clumps speeding through the planet’s faint rings, the structure inside volcanic eruptions on its moon Io, and the path of charged particles traversing the previously unexplored length of the planet’s long magnetic tail.

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In the process of looking I also found reference to the DAWN mission and ION propulsion.
The Voyager's 1 and 2, were just launched by chemical rockets and used gravitational assists to flip them around the Solar System.

DAWN was launched with a Delta II Heavy Lift chemical rocket with 8 boosters, but it also has an ION Thruster to keep pushing it along.
- LRK -
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http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/index.asp
Welcome to the Dawn Mission!

Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formations. Ceres and Vesta reside in the extensive zone between Mars and Jupiter together with many other smaller bodies, called the asteroid belt. Each has followed a very different evolutionary path constrained by the diversity of processes that operated during the first few million years of solar system evolution.
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Here is a 13 minute video about the mission.

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DAWN Mission Video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5412000236766165719&hl=en
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DAWN was in a coasting phase and new software was up-loaded for the computer.
They have now started the ION thruster with the new software and it works. Whew!
That aught to have been a nail biter. You can read about it in the link below.
- LRK -

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http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.asp
Dawn Resumes Extended Thrusting
June 30, 2009
Dawn resumed its routine of long-duration thrusting with its ion propulsion system on June 8. The spacecraft is now following the same pattern it used for most of 2008, with only a single weekly interruption in thrusting to point the main antenna to Earth. Dawn had spent most of the time since October 31, 2008 coasting. In contrast, most of the time from now until arrival at Vesta will be devoted to thrusting.
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Glenn Research has been working on ION engines for some time and work is being done to make ones bigger than flew on DAWN and DS1.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/history/ds1.html
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/fs21grc.html

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http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=8950
Tuning Up Ion Propulsion
by Administrator on August 5, 2009

A story on MIT’s Technology Review -
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23120/page1/
- site looks at ion propulsion, and specifically at improvements made in the technology at Glenn Research Center. Comparing the recent work to the engines used in the Deep Space 1 and Dawn missions, the story quotes GRC’s Michael Patterson as saying, “We made it physically bigger, but lighter, reduced the system’s complexity to extend its lifetime, and, overall, improved its efficiency.”

That’s good news, of course, and Patterson presented it to the AIAA’s Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit this week in Denver. With sessions on everything from Electric Propulsion Thruster Wear and Life Assessment to Advanced Propulsion Concepts, Denver was clearly the place to be for propulsion mavens. An entire session was devoted to the new ion thrust work, which goes under the name NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT).
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and back here on Mother Earth -
- LRK -

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NASA Science News for August 10, 2009

Like bugs streaking down the side window of a moving car, colorful Perseid Earthgrazers could put on a pleasing show after sunset on Tuesday, August 11th.

FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/10aug_horseflies.htm?list965414

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Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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