Software updated in Dawn main computer
Thu Feb 21, 2008 at 10:13 UTC
The ion propulsion system continued to push Dawn forward through most of January, with only two brief interruptions in the thrusting. The first on January 15 occurred when a cosmic ray hit an electronic component.
The second, a week later, was a deliberate pause to allow the operations team to update the software in the main computer.
The changes account for the increasing distance from Earth by lowering the speed of communications with Earth when the spacecraft enters "safe mode" - the configuration called by software to resolve certain errors. Following the software changes, thrusting resumed on January 25.
On Wednesday, February 20, 2008, Dawn was about 92.5 million kilometers (57.5 million miles) from Earth. On this day it is coasting (not thrusting with ion propulsion). Nevertheless, the Dawn spacecraft and the Earth are moving apart at more than 56 300 km/hour (35,000 miles/hour), as their orbits around the Sun take them their separate ways. On February 20, Dawn is just over 207 million kilometers (129 million miles) from the Sun. Thrusting is scheduled to resume Friday, February 22.
| Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory | |
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