This is a shape shifter for space science and I thank Cassini being the vanguard for Dawn Orbiter.
Check the propulsion unit---- is it possible remote that it maybe that a mini version of the Hadron Collider piggy back off It in the future ?
11 things to know about Nasa's Dawn Orbiter
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Monday, January 05, 2015
1. Nasa’s Dawn orbiter launched in September 2007.
Nasa launches Dawn on a Delta II rocket (John Raoux/AP/PA) 2. It’s now about 400,000 miles from its destination – the orbit of dwarf planet Ceres.
Artist’s concept of Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft heading toward Ceres (Nasa/JPL-Caltech) 3. It has already covered 2.9 billion miles of space.
It wasn’t this easy to watch the whole journey (John Raoux/AP/PA) 4. The unmanned spacecraft is expected to arrive in orbit around Ceres on March 6.
Artist concept of NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on its way to Dwarf Planet Ceres (Nasa/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/McREL) 5. Ceres is the largest body in the asteroid belt, the rocky region between Mars and Jupiter.
Artist concept showing the Dawn spacecraft at Ceres (Nasa/JPL) 6. It measures about 590 miles across – about the size of Texas, says Nasa.
7. Scientists hope studying Ceres will provide valuable clues about the early history of the Solar System.
Technicians working on Dawn well before launch – soon to be examining Ceres (John Raoux/AP/PA) 8. Ceres is the smallest body to be classified as a dwarf planet and the only one residing in the inner Solar system.
9. Ceres has a thick mantle of ice and may even possess an ocean under its surface.
But Nasa doesn’t really know that much about Ceres.
Dr Christopher Russell, the mission’s principal investigator from the University of California at Los Angeles, said: “Ceres is almost a complete mystery to us. All we can predict with confidence is that we will be surprised.” 10. The Dawn orbiter previously visited the “protoplanet” Vesta, for 14 months from 2011 to 2012.
Vesta, as seen in an image taken from Dawn at a distance of about 26,000 miles (Nasa/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)
It means, that when it starts exploring Ceres, it will be the first time a spacecraft has orbited two Solar System targets. 11. The Dawn orbiter uses a futuristic propulsion system.
