News
03.01.2013: Vesta: Giant impacts delivered carbon
Large collisions between asteroids transferred carbonaceous material in the inner solar system. More
30.08.2012: A Farewell to Vesta
NASA's space probe Dawn is scheduled to leave asteroid Vesta on Wednesday, September 5th, and head for its next destination, the dwarf planet Ceres. More
10.05.2012: Vesta seen in colors
New results prove that Dawn’s target asteroid Vesta is a relict from an early phase of planetary evolution. More
16.09.2011: Vesta in false-colors
First false-color maps of the asteroid show unique surface variations. More
11.08.2011: NASA’s Asteroid Photographer Beams Back Science Data
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is now in its first science-collecting orbit at Vesta. More
01.08.2011: Erste hochaufgelöste Bilder des Asteroiden Vesta
Neue Bilder des Kamerasystems an Bord der NASA-Raumsonde Dawn geben erste Hinweise auf eine bewegte Vergangenheit. More
18.07.2011: NASA's Dawn spacecraft returns close-up image of Vesta
NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned the first close-up image after beginning its orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta. On Friday, July 15, Dawn became the first probe to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. More
14.07.2011: NASA spacecraft to enter large asteroid's orbit
On July 15, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will become the first spacecraft to begin a prolonged encounter with the asteroid Vesta. More
23.06.2011: The faces of Vesta
New images of the asteroid show the first surface structures and give a preview of the Dawn mission's coming months. More
13.06.2011: Vesta: Coming into Focus
New images taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft show a dark spot on the asteroid's equatorial region. More
Science
The targets of the Dawn mission could not be more different: While Vesta once had a hot, molten interior that produced lava flows, Ceres has always been a cold body, under whose surface possibly frozen water can be found. In addition, both bodies allow for a look back into an early phase of our solar system. Both asteroids are among the largest survivors from this early phase of planet formation. more...
Mission
Dawn is a NASA mission managed by the Jet Propulaion Laboratory (JPL) that will reach the asteroids Vesta and Ceres within the next years. The space probe will encounter its first destination, the asteroid Vesta, in the summer of 2011. Presumably at the end of July, Dawn will start orbiting Vesta and deliver its first high-resolution images of the surface. more...
Cameras
The mission's success crucially depends on the two cameras, Dawn's eyes. The cameras were developed and built under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research with significant contributions by the Institute for Planetary Research of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and in coordination with the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering of the Technical University Braunschweig. more...