Owner manual

Orbital Sciences Corporation
45101 Warp Drive
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Dulles, Virginia 20166
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www.orbital.com
©2014 Orbital Sciences Corporation FS006_02_2998
Dawn
Key Mission Partners
UCLA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Principal Investigator: Dr. Christopher Russell; project
management, system engineering, ion propulsion
subsystem, science operations and spacecraft ight
operations
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Spacecraft design, integration and test, ight software,
and launch operations
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research/
German space agency (MPS/DLR)
Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Italian space agency/National Institute for Astro-
physics (ASI/INAF)
Rome, Italy
Kennedy Space Center
Launch services via NASA Launch Services Contract
Dawn Mission "Firsts"
• The Dawn spacecraft is the rst to orbit two planetary
bodies during a single mission.
• Dawn is the rst mission to study two of the largest
asteroids in the main belt.
• Dawn is NASA's rst purely scientic mission to be
powered by ion propulsion.
• Dawn is Orbital’s rst planetary mission. The spacecraft
design draws on the company’s extensive ight-proven
heritage.
Specications
Spacecraft
Mass: 1,210 kg (2,668 lb.) at launch, 740 kg (1,631 lb.) dry
Dimensions: 20 m (65 ft) tip-to-tip, spacecraft body is 2 m (6 ft)
high from separation plane to instrument deck
Power: Gallium Arsenide triple junction solar arrays, 10 kW
at Earth and 1.4 kW at Ceres
Communications: Deep Space Network – compatible with science
downlink rates of 41-128 kbps
Propulsion: Solar-electric propulsion using three gimbaled
NSTAR ion engines and monopropellant reaction
control system
Orbit Altitude: At target asteroids: As high as 4,500 km and as low
as 25 km
Mission Life: 10 years
Reliability: Redundant and cross-strapped spacecraft bus
electronics
Heritage: GALEX, SORCE, Deep Space 1, STAR
™
Bus
Status: Fully operational
Launch
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7925H
Site: Kennedy Space Center
Date: September 27, 2007
Instruments
Two Framing Cameras (MPS/DLR)
Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (ASI/INAF)
Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (LANL)
Diagram of Dawn Spacecraft
Solar Array
High Gain
Antenna
RCS
Thrusters
IPS
Thrusters
Radiator Panel
with Louvers
Gamma Ray/Neutron
Spectrometer
Low Gain
Antenna
Star
Trackers
Framing
Cameras
VIR
Low Gain
Antenna
Y
Z
X