Dawn
Mission overview
Dawn was the first spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial bodies, the asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres.
Mission data
Identity and engineering data from Wikidata (type-verified match · Q48558) · launch date 2007-09-27 confirmed
| International designator | 2007-043A | Wikidata · catalogued |
Full field-level provenance
- International designator: Wikidata (Wikimedia Foundation) — community-curated structured knowledge base · Wikidata · wdt · P247 · catalogued value · retrieved 2026-07-11
Sourced from Wikidata (community-maintained structured data, whose statements link to their own citations where provided); each value carries its Wikidata QID. A field with conflicting Wikidata values is omitted. Launch date is used only to cross-check the catalogue, never to override it. Fields Wikidata did not provide, or where conflicting values exist, are omitted, never invented.
Primary-source verification
Committed mission facts cross-checked against the official NASA primary source — NASA Science — Dawn.
| Launch date | 2007-09-27 | Confirmed by primary |
Verified by corroboration against the official agency document: a launch date is “Confirmed by primary” only when the page literally states it; a launch mass only when the page states a figure equal to it within catalogue rounding (±0.5%). Source precedence is primary agency > peer-reviewed > official mission page > structured secondary > Wikidata; a primary source outranks Wikidata but no engineering value is transcribed from the page — an uncorroborated value is kept as its original (secondary) source, never re-labelled primary. Checked 2026-07-12.
Outcome & discoveries
Used ion propulsion to study Vesta and Ceres, finding bright salt deposits on Ceres.
- ★Bright carbonate/salt deposits in Ceres's Occator crater
Mission profile
Knowledge connections
- Target of4 Vesta
- Target ofCeres
- Operated byNASA
- Part of programDiscovery Program
- Mission target4 Vesta
- Mission targetCeres
- VisitedCeres
- Visited4 Vesta
- Member of groupOrbiter Mission
- Member of groupRendezvous Mission
- Launched byDelta II
- Operated byNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Orbited4 Vesta
- OrbitedCeres
- Associated withLaunch & Cruise
- Carries instrumentDawn Framing Camera
- Associated withOccator Crater
- Associated withAhuna Mons
- Associated withRheasilvia
Related missions
| Mission | Type | Agency | Launch | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MESSENGERMercury | Orbiter | NASA | 2004-08-03 | Completed |
| InSightMars | Lander | NASA | 2018-05-05 | Completed |
| LucyJupiter Trojan asteroids | Multiple flyby | NASA | 2021-10-16 | Active |
| PsycheAsteroid 16 Psyche | Orbiter | NASA | 2023-10-13 | En route |
| Kepler Space TelescopeEarth-trailing solar orbit | Space telescope | NASA | 2009-03-07 | Completed |
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASA JPLJet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics
Orbital data, ephemerides, and small-body parameters for planets, asteroids, and comets.