Riding an Ion Drive to the Asteroid Belt

Iron Condor writes "JPL is now close to embarking on another of its trademark, one-of-a-kind missions, this time to the heart of the asteroid belt: The Dawn mission is being prepared for launch this summer from Kennedy Space Center. Dawn will explore Ceres and Vesta, the two largest known asteroids in our solar system, which lie in the vast expanse between Mars and Jupiter. In the process, the mission will make history on several fronts. Besides being the first spacecraft to orbit a main-belt asteroid and the first to ever orbit two targets after leaving Earth, Dawn will be the first science mission powered by electric ion propulsion, the world's most advanced and efficient space propulsion technology."

Comments

"Electric ions"?

[CarpetShark]

Aren't ions charged (or charge-stripped) particles? Do we really need to say "electric ions"? Is there another kind?

Re:"Electric ions"?

[Bromskloss]

The propulsion is electric, as in the energy source being electricity, although some mass is still needed for the actual thrust, hence the ions.

Exactly, human language needs more of parentheses, like in mathematics, so it's "electric (ion propulsion)" rathern than "(electric ion) propulsion". :-)

Re:Not the first ion thruster propelled spacecraft

[Anonymous Coward]

Even if you use that "bad" argument, there is still Hayabusa, which does have a very scientific goal.

American exaggeration...?

[Anonymous Coward]

Reading below, this is NOT the:

First to visit an asteroid
First to orbit two targets
or First to use an Ion Drive

and, in fact, space probes are now becoming sufficiently common for the launches to be a yawn in the press. The Europeans are dropping probes on Titan, for christsake!

What is it with us? This kind of trumpeting makes the rest of the world assume we're so insecure that we need to keep pretending that we're the best...... Oh wait, maybe that's true??

Re:American exaggeration...?

[swanchr]

So... you might want to check your facts. The Americans (Cassini spacecraft) dropped the European Probe (Huygens) on Titan. The press release is somewhat U.S. centric but the first to orbit two separate Planetary bodies is probably a valid claim.

About time

[huckamania]

It's nice to see well thought out and efficient science experiments like this one. The asteroids in our solar system are probably more valuable to us in the short term than any of the planets or moons, with the exception of our own moon. I remember an estimate of how much iron is in the asteroid belt once and its enough to cover the earth several times over.

As scary or foolish as it may seem, our only future is to get off this rock and learn to live in space. Mars is El Dorado, worthless except in the minds of poets and dreamers. There may be hope for purchase on some of the moons, but to get to them or Mars we'll have to have already adapted to space.

I don't think it will work with out fusion, but if they find gold or oil in one of those rocks, who knows what could happen.

Re:About time

[Loke the Dog]

As unromantic as it might sound, water will probably be the first stuff mined from asteroids, and the only stuff for a long time.

The thing is that bringing asteroids to the surface of the earth isnt easy, and even gold isnt really THAT expensive on earth. You have to launch mining equipment, mine the asteroid, bring the stuff to earth and then land it on earth. Add those things up, and it might not be worth it. Lastly, finding gold on an asteroid is unlikely.

Water on the other hand has many advantages. It can be found in very pure forms on asteroids, it is very easy to mine, requires no processing and it doesnt need to be transported safely to the surface of the earth, but can be sold directly in earth orbit.

After that, we might see metals mined that are useful in space and require very simple processing. I think the space industry will have to build around tourism and exploration for another 100 years before stuff can actually be imported to earth.

Re:American exaggeration... (not really, no)

[ausoleil]

No space launch is ever "routine." While the world (especially the Russians and the US) are roughly fifty years past the days of rockets usually exploding rather than flying, there is still a great deal of risk involved whether the payload is a satellite for cable tv, a manned mission to orbit the Earth or even a robotic mission to another celestial body.

People seem to forget the number of failures exploring Mars. The Americans lost the Observer, the Climate Orbiter, Deep Space 2, and the Polar Lander since 1990. The Russians lost Mars 96. The Euros lost Beagle 2 -- all of which offset the spectacular successes of the Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity, and the Mars Reconnaisance Observer. So yeah, it's "routine" all right to travel the vast distance from Earth and explore the nearest planetary body.

Space is, in fact, far from routinely explored.