Dawn
Artist's concept of Dawn with Vesta (left) & Ceres (right)
Organization:	NASA
Major contractors:	Orbital Sciences, JPL, UCLA
Mission type:	Orbiter
Satellite of:	Vesta and Ceres
Launch date:	September 2007
Launch vehicle:	Delta 7925H
Mission duration:	8 years
NSSDC ID:	DAWN
Webpage:	Dawn Home
Mass:	1250 kg
Eccentricity:	~ circular
Inclination:	Polar
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The Dawn Mission is a NASA mission that will send the Dawn spacecraft, a robotic space probe, to the asteroid belt. Dawn will orbit and examine the two most massive members of the asteroid belt, the dwarf planet Ceres and the asteroid Vesta. Dawn will be the first spacecraft to enter into orbit around two different planetary bodies other than the Earth and Moon, and the first to visit the largest asteroid. Launch is scheduled for September 2007. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1500x1147, 950 KB) Dawn spacecraft (final configuration) Source: http://dawn. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the United States federal government, responsible for the nations public space program. ... 4 Vesta (ves-ta) is the second most massive asteroid in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of about 530 km and an estimated mass 12% the mass of the entire asteroid belt. ... Spectral type: G[8] Absolute magnitude: 3. ... A Delta II rocket launches from Cape Canaveral carrying a GPS satellite The Boeing IDS Delta II family of launch vehicles has been in service since 1989. ... NASA logo The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) is a department in NASAs Solar System Exploration Division. ... In astrodynamics, under standard assumptions any orbit must be of conic section shape. ... Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the United States federal government, responsible for the nations public space program. ... An artists interpretation of the MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury A robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. ... Technicians work on the Ulysses space probe. ... For details on the physical properties of bodies in the asteroid belt see Asteroid and Main-belt comet. ... Two bodies with a slight difference in mass orbiting around a common barycenter. ... Artists impression of Pluto (background) and Charon (foreground). ... Spectral type: G[8] Absolute magnitude: 3. ... 4 Vesta (ves-ta) is the second most massive asteroid in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of about 530 km and an estimated mass 12% the mass of the entire asteroid belt. ...

Mission

The mission's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formation. Ceres and Vesta have many contrasting characteristics that are thought to have resulted from them forming in two different regions of the early solar system; Ceres is theorized to have experienced a "cool and wet" formation that may have left it with subsurface water, and Vesta is theorized to have experienced a "hot and dry" formation that resulted in a differentiated interior and surface vulcanism. Major features of the Solar System (not to scale; from left to right): Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, the asteroid belt, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and its Moon, and Mars. ... In cosmogony, a protoplanet is a quasi-planetoid which is slightly larger than a planetesimal and orbits within a solar nebulas protoplanetary discs. ... For other uses, see Volcano (disambiguation). ...

To cruise from Earth to its targets it will use three DS1 heritage Xenon ion thrusters (firing only one at a time) to take it in a long outward spiral. The current estimated chronology is as follows:^[1] This article is about Earth as a planet. ... The spacecraft Deep Space 1 was launched October 24, 1998 on top of a Delta II rocket. ... General Name, Symbol, Number xenon, Xe, 54 Chemical series noble gases Group, Period, Block 18, 5, p Appearance colorless Standard atomic weight 131. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Planned flight trajectory

• September 2007: launch
• March 2009: Mars gravity assist
• October 2011: Vesta arrival
• April 2012: Vesta departure
• February 2015: Ceres arrival
• July 2015: End of operations

An extended mission in which Dawn explores other asteroids after Ceres is also possible. Image File history File links Dawn_Trajectory_as_of_2006. ... Image File history File links Dawn_Trajectory_as_of_2006. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... 2009 (MMIX) will be a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Adjectives: Martian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 0. ... It has been suggested that sling effect be merged into this article or section. ... 2011 (MMXI) will be a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 4 Vesta (ves-ta) is the second most massive asteroid in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of about 530 km and an estimated mass 12% the mass of the entire asteroid belt. ... 2012 (MMXII) will be a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2015 (MMXV) will be a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Spectral type: G[8] Absolute magnitude: 3. ... 2015 (MMXV) will be a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Mission team

The Dawn mission team is led by UCLA space scientist and Dawn Principal Investigator Christopher T. Russell. Michael Mook is the Dawn Program Manager at Orbital Sciences Corporation, which built the spacecraft. Armando Piloto, is the Dawn Mission Manager at Kennedy Space Center. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory provided the Ion Propulsion System and management of the overall flight system development. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research provided the framing camera, the Italian Space Agency provided the mapping spectrometer, and the DOE Los Alamos National Laboratory provided the gamma ray and neutron spectrometer.^[2] Binomial name Ucla xenogrammus Holleman, 1993 The largemouth triplefin, Ucla xenogrammus, is a fish of the family Tripterygiidae and only member of the genus Ucla, found in the Pacific Ocean from Viet Nam, the Philippines, Palau and the Caroline Islands to Papua New Guinea, Australia (including Christmas Island), and the... Christopher Thomas Russell is the head of the Space Physics Group in IGPP and the Director of the UCLA Branch of the California Space Grant Consortium. ... Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC, though commonly abbreviated as Orbital) is a Dulles, Virginia company which specializes in satellite launch and manufacture. ... Merritt Island and Kennedy Space Center (shown in white). ... For the singer/songwriter, see Jon Peter Lewis. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... DLR Helicopter The German Aerospace Center (DLR) (German: ) is the national research center for aviation and space flight of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Space Agency. ... Max Planck Institute for Solarsystem Research April 2006 The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) is part of the Max Planck Society which operates 80 research facilities in Germany. ... The Italian Space Agency (Italian: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; ASI) was founded in 1988 to promote, co-ordinate and conduct space activities in Italy. ... A spectrometer is an optical instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. ... The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. ... Los Alamos National Laboratory, aerial view from 1995. ... This article is about electromagnetic radiation. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Motivation

Dawn is intended to study two large asteroids in order to answer questions about the formation of the solar system. Major features of the Solar System (not to scale; from left to right): Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, the asteroid belt, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and its Moon, and Mars. ...

Ceres and Vesta were chosen as two contrasting protoplanets, one apparently "wet" (that is, icy) and the other "dry" (or rocky), whose accretion was terminated by the formation of Jupiter. They provide a bridge in our understanding between the formation of rocky planets and the icy bodies of our solar system, and under what conditions a rocky planet can hold water. In cosmogony, a protoplanet is a quasi-planetoid which is slightly larger than a planetesimal and orbits within a solar nebulas protoplanetary discs. ... Snowflakes by Wilson Bentley, 1902 Ice is the name given to any one of the 14 known solid phases of water. ... The rocky side of a mountain creek near Orosí, Costa Rica. ... Adjectives: Jovian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 20–200 kPa[4] (cloud layer) Composition: ~86% Molecular hydrogen ~13% Helium 0. ...

The IAU adopted a new definition of planet on August 24, 2006, and thus, if the IAU's definition stands and the spacecraft experiences no delays, Dawn will become the first mission to study a dwarf planet, arriving at Ceres five months prior to the arrival of New Horizons at Pluto. Logo of the IAU The International Astronomical Union (French: Union astronomique internationale) unites national astronomical societies from around the world. ... The final definition left the solar system with eight planets, pictured above (not to scale) Displays the remaining eight planets with the celestial bodies that have now been designated as dwarf planets. ... August 24 is the 236th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (237th in leap years), with 129 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... New Horizons is a robotic spacecraft mission conducted by NASA. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix and Hydra. ... Adjectives: Plutonian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 0. ...

Ceres is a dwarf planet whose mass encompasses about one-third of the total mass of the asteroids in the asteroid belt and whose spectral characteristics suggest a composition like (but not exactly) a water-rich carbonaceous chondrite. Smaller Vesta, a water-poor achondrite, has experienced significant heating and differentiation. It shows signs of a metallic core, a Mars-like density and lunar-like basaltic flows. Asteroids is a popular vector-based video arcade game released in 1979 by Atari. ... For details on the physical properties of bodies in the asteroid belt see Asteroid and Main-belt comet. ... In most modern usages of the word spectrum, there is a unifying theme of between extremes at either end. ... Some carbonaceous chondrites. ... An Achondrite is a stony meteorite that is made of material similar to terrestrial basalts or plutonic rocks. ... Igneous differentiation is an umbrella term for the various processes by which magmas undergo bulk chemical change during the partial melting process, cooling, emplacement of eruption. ...

Both bodies formed very early in the history of the solar system, thereby retaining a record of events and processes from the time of the formation of the terrestrial planets. Radionuclide dating of pieces of meteorites thought to come from Vesta suggests that Vesta differentiated quickly, in only three million years. Thermal evolution studies suggest that Ceres must have formed a little later, more than three million years after the formation of CAIs (the oldest known objects of Solar System origin). A radionuclide is an atom with an unstable nucleus, which is a nucleus characterized of excess energy which is available to be imparted either to a newly-created radiation particle within the nucleus, or else to an atomic electron (see internal conversion) . The radionuclide, in this process, undergoes radioactive decay... Ca-Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) are centimeter sized light-coloured inclusions found in carbonaceous chondrites. ...

Moreover, Vesta is the source of many smaller objects in the solar system. Most (but not all) V-type near-Earth asteroids, and some outer main-belt asteroids have spectra similar to Vesta and are known as 'vestoids'. Five percent of the found meteoritic samples on Earth, the Howardite Eucrite Diogenite ("HED") meteorites, are thought to be the result of a collision or collisions with Vesta. The V-type asteroids or Vestoids are moderately bright, and very similar to the more common S-type, which are also made up of stony irons and ordinary chondrites. ... Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are asteroids whose orbit intersects Earths orbit and which may therefore pose a collision danger, as well as being most easily accessible for spacecraft from Earth. ... For details on the physical properties of bodies in the asteroid belt see Asteroid and Main-belt comet. ... In most modern usages of the word spectrum, there is a unifying theme of between extremes at either end. ... Willamette Meteorite A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earths surface without being destroyed. ... The Johnstown Diogenite. ...

Mission cancellations and reinstatements

Dawn in the middle of 2006

The status of the Dawn mission has changed dramatically. In December, 2003, the project was first cancelled, and then reinstated in February, 2004. In October, 2005, work on Dawn was placed into "stand down" mode. In January, 2006, Dawn's "stand down" was discussed in the press as "indefinitely postponed", even though NASA had announced no new decisions regarding the mission's status.^[3] On March 2, 2006, Dawn was publicly, but not formally cancelled by NASA headquarters.^[4] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1500x1200, 254 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dawn Mission User:MrFish Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1500x1200, 254 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dawn Mission User:MrFish Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... is the 61st day of the year (62nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

In an unusual step, the cancellation was placed under review,^[5] and on 27 March 2006, it was announced that the mission would not be cancelled after all.^[6][7] March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (87th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

In the last week of September 2006, the Dawn mission instrument payload integration reached a full functional status. Until Dawn's launch in September 2007, there will be necessary environmental and other tests, but a launch is no longer in doubt.

The Dawn Microchip

Onboard Dawn is a small computer microchip bearing the names of more than 360,000 space enthusiasts.^[8] The names were submitted online as part of a public outreach effort between September 2005 and November 4, 2006.^[9] The microchip (about the size of an American five-cent coin) was installed above the forward ion thruster, underneath the spacecraft's High Gain Antenna, on May 17, 2007.^[10] More than one microchip was made, with a back-up copy on display at the 2007 Open House at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 137th day of the year (138th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... For the singer/songwriter, see Jon Peter Lewis. ... Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ...

The slightly damaged solar array (NASA)

Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 531 pixelsFull resolution (3000 × 1993 pixel, file size: 249 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) NASA Image of Dawn spacecraft solar array slight pre-launch damage. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 531 pixelsFull resolution (3000 × 1993 pixel, file size: 249 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) NASA Image of Dawn spacecraft solar array slight pre-launch damage. ...

Launch preparations

On April 10, 2007, Dawn arrived at the Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary of SPACEHAB, Inc. in Titusville, Florida, where it will be prepared for launch.^[11][12] Dawn will be launched from pad 17-B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a Delta 7925H rocket.^[13] Launch was originally scheduled for 20 June, but was delayed until 30 June due to delays with part deliveries.^[14] A broken crane at the launch pad, used to raise the solid rocket boosters, delayed the launch for a week, until 7 July, but on June 15 the second stage successfully was hoisted into position.^[15][16] A mishap at the Astrotech Space Operations facility, involving slight damage to one of the solar arrays, did not have an effect on the launch date, however bad weather caused the launch to slip to 8 July. Range tracking problems then delayed the launch to 9 July, and 15 July, before the launch was delayed further to avoid knock-on delays with the Phoenix mission to Mars. Launch of Dawn is currently scheduled for September 2007.^[17] is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... SPACEHAB is an aerospace company based out of Arlington, Virginia that has had several modules fly aboard the Space Shuttle. ... Titusville is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. ... The first stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket, slated to launch NASAs Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), is lifted into a vertical position for installation into the mobile service tower at Pad 17B Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 17 is a launch site at Merritt Island... The Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral on July 24, 1950. ... The Delta II family of launch vehicles was designed and built by Boeings Integrated Defense Systems division and has been in service since 1989. ...

References and notes

A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 63rd day of the year (64th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 63rd day of the year (64th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (87th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (87th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (87th in leap years). ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 169th day of the year (170th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

See also

Spaceflight Portal

• Delta II
• Ceres (dwarf planet)
• 4 Vesta
• List of spaceflights (2007)

Image File history File links Portal. ... The Delta II family of launch vehicles was designed and built by Boeings Integrated Defense Systems division and has been in service since 1989. ... Spectral type: G[8] Absolute magnitude: 3. ... 4 Vesta (ves-ta) is the second most massive asteroid in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of about 530 km and an estimated mass 12% the mass of the entire asteroid belt. ... This is a list of spacecraft launches that are scheduled to occur in 2007. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Dawn (spacecraft)

• NASA Forced to Postpone DAWN Launch until September
• Dawn Mission Home Page at JPL
• Dawn Website at UCLA Space Physics Center
• Dawn Mission Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
• Visual and Infrared Spectrometer Instrument at INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica)
• Dawn Framing Camera at Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
• Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer for Dawn, short paper on the instrument, from 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

v • d • e Mars Spacecraft Missions
Flybys	Mariner 4 - Mariner 6 - Mariner 7 - Mars 4 - Rosetta
Orbiters	Mariner 9 - Mars 2 - Mars 3 - Mars 5 - Mars 6 - Viking 1 - Viking 2 - Phobos 2 - Mars Global Surveyor - Mars Odyssey - Mars Express Orbiter - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Landers and Rovers	Mars 3 - Viking 1 - Viking 2 - Mars Pathfinder - Spirit rover - Opportunity rover
Future	2007: Dawn - Phoenix Scout 2009: Mars Science Laboratory - Phobos-Grunt & Yinghuo-1 2011: Mars Scout 2011 2013: Mars Science and Telecommunications Orbiter - ExoMars 2016: Astrobiology Field Laboratory Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Max Planck Institute for Solarsystem Research April 2006 The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) is part of the Max Planck Society which operates 80 research facilities in Germany. ... The Space Shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station. ... 253 Mathilde, a C-type asteroid. ... Galileo is prepared for mating with the IUS booster Galileo and Inertial Upper Stage being deployed after being launched by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission Galileo was an unmanned spacecraft sent by NASA to study the planet Jupiter and its moons. ... Near Earth Asteroid Eros as seen from the NEAR spacecraft. ... The spacecraft Deep Space 1 was launched October 24, 1998 on top of a Delta II rocket. ... An artists rendering of Stardust (NASA image) The Stardust capsule with cometary and interstellar samples landed at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range at 10:10 UTC (15 January 2006) in the Bonneville Salt Flats. ... New Horizons is a robotic spacecraft mission conducted by NASA. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix and Hydra. ... Rosetta is a European Space Agency-led unmanned space mission launched in 2004 intended to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ... Near Earth Asteroid Eros as seen from the NEAR spacecraft. ... For other uses, see Hayabusa (disambiguation). ... Rosetta is a European Space Agency-led unmanned space mission launched in 2004 intended to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ... Near Earth Asteroid Eros as seen from the NEAR spacecraft. ... For other uses, see Hayabusa (disambiguation). ... Philae (previously known as RoLand) is the name of the lander that accompanies the Rosetta spacecraft. ... Adjectives: Martian Atmosphere Surface pressure: 0. ... Computer generated image of one of the two Mars Exploration Rovers which touched down on Mars in 2004. ... The first close-up image ever taken of Mars, this photo shows an area about 330 km across by 1200 km from limb to bottom of frame. ... Mariner 6. ... As part of the wider Mariner program, in 1969 Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 completed the first dual mission to Mars, flying by over the equator and south polar regions and analysing atmosphere and surface with remote sensors as well as recording and relaying hundreds of pictures. ... The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. ... Rosetta is a European Space Agency-led unmanned space mission launched in 2004 intended to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ... Viking-2 picture; http://photojournal. ... Mariner 9 launch Mariner 9 was a NASA space probe orbiter that helped in the exploration of Mars and was part of the Mariner program. ... The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Mars 2. ... The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. ... The Mars program was a series of Mars unmanned landers and orbiters launched by the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. ... The Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASAs Viking program. ... Frost on Mars. ... The Phobos program was an unmanned space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. ... The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was a US spacecraft developed by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. ... Artists concept of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft 2001 Mars Odyssey is an unmanned spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. ... Oblique view of the Reull Vallis near the Hellas basin, rendered from data obtained by the Mars Express orbiters High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) The Mars Express Orbiter is part of the Mars Express program, a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Mars. ... NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a multipurpose spacecraft designed to conduct reconnaissance and exploration of Mars from orbit. ... A Mars Rover is an unmanned land vehicle for exploration of the planet Mars. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Mars 2. ... The Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASAs Viking program. ... Frost on Mars. ... The Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. ... The mission patch for Spirit, featuring Marvin the Martian. ... The launch patch for Opportunity, featuring Duck Dodgers (Daffy Duck). ... For the Star Trek spacecraft, see Phoenix (Star Trek). ... 2007 Mars Science Laboratory concept 2003 Mars Science Laboratory concept Schematic diagram of the planned rover components Schematic diagram of the planned rover components, updated version The Mars Science Laboratory (or MSL for short) is a NASA rover scheduled to launch in December 2009 and perform a precision landing on... Phobos-Grunt (rus. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Mars Science and Telecommunication Orbiter or MSTO is a proposal for what would be primarily an infrastructure component for future missions, but also perform some yet to be determined science activities of its own. ... ExoMars model at ILA 2006 (Berlin) ExoMars. ... The Astrobiology Field Laboratory is a proposed NASA unmanned planetary spacecraft to explore the planet Mars. ... 2024?: Mars Sample Return Mission
See also	Mars - Exploration of Mars - Colonization of Mars