Dawn reaches greatest distance from the sun for 2008
Sat Aug 30, 2008 at 23:59 UTC
Dawn spent most of August continuing to thrust with its ion propulsion system. On August 8, it reached its greatest distance from the Sun this year of 1.68 times Earth's average distance from the Sun. For the rest of 2008, it will gradually travel closer to the Sun. The spacecraft's elliptical orbit will never bring it as close to the Sun as Earth's orbit. In 2009, it will resume moving away from the Sun.
On August 26, the primary and backup science cameras were commanded to execute standard calibration procedures. The results verify that the cameras remain in good health.
