Orbital ATK Celebrates Dawn Spacecraft’s Epic Nine-Year, Deep Space Exploration Mission
June 30 2016 - 12:30PM
Business Wire
Orbital ATK-Designed and -Built Spacecraft
Advanced Understanding of Planetary Formation in the Solar
System
Dawn Project Team Received Prestigious
Awards for Historic Mission
Orbital ATK, Inc. (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and
defense technologies, today celebrates the achievements of NASA’s
Dawn deep space exploration spacecraft as it successfully completes
its primary mission. Designed and built by Orbital ATK, Dawn is in
the ninth year of its historic journey, which is advancing human
understanding of planetary formation and revealing new mysteries of
the solar system.
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The dwarf planet Ceres is shown,
including bright features revealed by Dawn at the Occator Crater
that continue to spark scientific investigation. Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCAL/MPS/DLR/IDA
“Dawn’s successful, interplanetary mission is a testament to the
ingenuity and dedication of the entire JPL-led mission team and
NASA,” said Frank Culbertson, President of Orbital ATK’s Space
Systems Group. “Orbital ATK designed and built Dawn more than 10
years ago, relying on our flight-proven Earth science and
communication technology, and our extensive space systems
expertise. The result has been a spacecraft that exceeded all of
its major milestones during its primary mission. We are incredibly
proud to be a part of this team.”
Dawn is the first mission of its kind, relying on solar electric
ion propulsion, the world’s most advanced and efficient space
propulsion technology, to travel to and orbit two interplanetary
bodies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group designed and built Dawn at the
company’s facilities in Dulles, Virginia. Launched from Cape
Canaveral, Florida in September 2007, Dawn embarked on a two-stop,
interplanetary mission. During its nearly decade-long journey, Dawn
traveled more than 3.5 billion miles or the equivalent of 140,000
trips around Earth’s equator. It delivered troves of important data
to scientists worldwide with the first-ever, up-close look at two
planetary bodies that date back to the formation of the solar
system. In recognition of these achievements, the Dawn Project Team
received prestigious awards, including the 2015 Robert J. Collier
Trophy and the 2016 National Space Club’s Nelson P. Jackson
Award.
In July 2011, Dawn reached its first destination, Vesta, the
second most massive object in the main asteroid belt. It spent
nearly 14 months orbiting and mapping Vesta, returning more than
30,000 images and other measurements of the protoplanet. In
September 2012, Dawn departed Vesta in pursuit of its second
destination, the dwarf planet Ceres, previously known as the
largest unexplored world of the inner solar system. Dawn entered
orbit around Ceres in March 2015. Since then, Dawn has returned
nearly 40,000 images of intriguing topographical features,
including the now-famous bright areas believed to be salt
concentrations on the surface of Ceres. The quality of all images
collected from both Vesta and Ceres substantially exceeded
resolution previously available from the ground-based W.M. Keck
Observatory and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. In fact, many of the
images Dawn returned are more than 800 times the resolution
available from Hubble observations.
“Dawn allowed us to become acquainted with two uncharted
celestial bodies, each of which will help scientists better
understand the origin of our solar system,” said Joe Makowski,
Orbital ATK’s Dawn Program Manager. “The Dawn spacecraft and
instruments proved their mettle throughout the primary mission,
enabling great science in deep space.”
Dawn's mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project
of the directorate's Discovery Program, which is managed by NASA's
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) is responsible for overall Dawn
mission science. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck
Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and
the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are international
partners on the mission team.
About Orbital ATK
Orbital ATK is a global leader in aerospace and defense
technologies. The company designs, builds and delivers space,
defense and aviation systems for customers around the world, both
as a prime contractor and merchant supplier. Its main products
include launch vehicles and related propulsion systems; missile
products, subsystems and defense electronics; precision weapons,
armament systems and ammunition; satellites and associated space
components and services; and advanced aerospace structures.
Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, Orbital ATK employs
approximately 12,000 people in 18 states across the U.S. and in
several international locations. For more information, visit
www.orbitalatk.com.
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Orbital ATK, Inc.Media Contact:Vicki Cox,
410-409-8723Space Systems Group Public
Relationsvicki.cox@orbitalatk.comorInvestor Contact:Barron
Beneski, 703-406-5528Public and Investor
Relationsbarron.beneski@orbitalatk.com
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