Dawn Is Awake

Dawn Opens its Eyes, Checks its Instruments
“After a hibernation of about six months, the framing cameras on board NASA’s Dawn spacecraft have again ventured a look into the stars. The spacecraft also powered up its visible and infrared mapping spectrometer, which investigates surface mineralogy, and the gamma ray and neutron detector, which detects elemental composition. The reactivation prepares the instruments for the May approach and July arrival at Vesta, Dawn’s first port of call in the asteroid belt.”