Sun, Jul 08, 2007
Focus Now Turns To Mars Phoenix Mission
NASA told ANN Saturday the launch of the oft-delayed Dawn
spacecraft, a mission that will explore the asteroids Ceres and
Vespa, located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, has
been rescheduled to September.
The decision was made to move the launch to September after
review by NASA's Science Mission Directorate officials, working
with Dawn mission managers, the Dawn principal investigator, and
with the concurrence of the NASA Administrator.
Primary reasons for the move were a combination of highly
limited launch opportunities for Dawn in July and the potential
impact to launch preparations for the upcoming Phoenix Mars Lander
mission, set for early August. NASA says a September launch for
Dawn maintains all of the science mission goals a July launch would
have provided, while also giving the space agency some additional
breathing room regarding other planned missions.
As ANN reported, logistical
difficulties and concerns about weather on launch day had forced
NASA to postpone a planned July 8 launch by one day -- after the
mission had already been bumped from its June launch date after a
crane used to stack segments of the Delta II booster at the Cape
broke down. A worker's wrench also fell on the spacecraft's solar
panel during a procedure to prepare the spacecraft for spin-balance
testing, though it did not damage any cells.
Late last month, some at NASA
questioned whether the planned July launch was overly optimistic,
due to continuing glitches with the Delta II launch rocket, and
difficulties with coordinating launch support. There were also
concerns continued delays with Dawn would impact launch of the
Phoenix mission, which must blast off by August 25 in order to
reach Mars.
Phoenix will examine whether the icy soil on Mars could have
been a habitable environment for microbial life, according to the
space agency.
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