{"id":10961,"date":"2015-07-13T01:07:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T05:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10961"},"modified":"2015-07-13T01:07:00","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T05:07:00","slug":"dawn-at-ceres-safe-mode-recovery-white-spots-may-be-salt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10961","title":{"rendered":"Dawn at Ceres: Safe mode recovery + White spots may be salt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While the attention of space fans is riveted on Pluto this week, another dwarf planet continues to tease the world with\u00a0its peculiar\u00a0features:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/speaking-of-science\/wp\/2015\/07\/10\/the-weird-white-spots-on-ceres-might-not-be-ice-after-all\/?postshare=1751436554981278\" target=\"_d\">The weird white spots on Ceres might not be ice after all &#8211; The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">New Horizons<\/a> had a <a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10893\" target=\"_blank\">Safe Mode incident<\/a>\u00a0last week and so did <a href=\"http:\/\/dawn.jpl.nasa.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">Dawn<\/a>\u00a0and it recovered as well:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/dawn.jpl.nasa.gov\/news\/news-detail.html?id=4649\" target=\"_d\">Dawn Holding in Second Mapping Orbit<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NASA&#8217;s Dawn spacecraft is healthy and stable, after experiencing an anomaly in the system that controls its orientation. It is still in its second mapping orbit 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above dwarf planet Ceres.<\/p>\n<p>On June 30, shortly after turning on its ion engine to begin the gradual spiral down to the next mapping orbit, its protective software detected the anomaly. Dawn responded as designed by stopping all activities (including thrusting), reconfiguring its systems to safe mode and transmitting a radio signal to request further instructions. On July 1 and 2, engineers made configuration changes needed to return the spacecraft to its normal operating mode. The spacecraft is out of safe mode, using the main antenna to communicate with Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Dawn will remain at its current orbital altitude until the operations team has completed an analysis of what occurred and has updated the flight plan.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the versatility of Dawn&#8217;s ion propulsion system and the flexibility of the mission&#8217;s plan for exploring Ceres, there is no special &#8220;window&#8221; for starting or completing the spiral to the third mapping orbit. The plans for the third and fourth mapping orbits can be shifted to new dates without significant changes in objectives or productivity.<\/p>\n<p>More information on the Dawn mission is online at:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/dawn\" target=\"_blank\">www.nasa.gov\/dawn<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/dawn.jpl.nasa.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">dawn.jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the attention of space fans is riveted on Pluto this week, another dwarf planet continues to tease the world with\u00a0its peculiar\u00a0features:\u00a0The weird white spots on Ceres might not be ice after all &#8211; The Washington Post. New Horizons had a Safe Mode incident\u00a0last week and so did Dawn\u00a0and it recovered as well: Dawn Holding &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10961\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Dawn at Ceres: Safe mode recovery + White spots may be salt<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,13,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asteroids","category-space-science","category-space-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2QN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10737,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10737","url_meta":{"origin":10961,"position":0},"title":"Dawn at Ceres: Latest photos of the &#8216;bright spots&#8217; and other areas","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest\u00a0photos of Ceres from the Dawn spacecraft: The brightest spots on dwarf planet Ceres are seen in this image taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 6, 2015.\u00a0\u00a0Full image and caption Bright Spots Shine in Newest Dawn Ceres Images New images of dwarf planet Ceres, taken by NASA's Dawn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"pia19568_main-1041[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/pia19568_main-10411.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10571,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10571","url_meta":{"origin":10961,"position":1},"title":"New Dawn images of Ceres and its bright spots","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dawn probe is now moving to where it can see most all of the dwarf planet Ceres. Here's the latest image of the dwarf planet and those shiny spots: Ceres Animation Showcases Bright Spots Click for larger image. This animation shows a sequence of images taken by NASA's Dawn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"PIA19547-home[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/PIA19547-home1-1024x560.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10631,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10631","url_meta":{"origin":10961,"position":2},"title":"Latest Dawn image of bright spots on Ceres surface","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0Dawn\u00a0probe is getting closer to the giant asteroid (or dwarf planet depending on your classification preference) and taking better images of those odd bright spots on the surface: [ Update: Lots more Ceres images with\u00a0Emily Lakdawalla's commentary:\u00a0Tons of fun with the latest Ceres image releases from Dawn -\u00a0The Planetary Society.]\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"pia19559-16-640x350[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/pia19559-16-640x3501.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10817,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10817","url_meta":{"origin":10961,"position":3},"title":"Latest Dawn images of Ceres &#8211; Bright spots and a mountain stand out","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0Dawn\u00a0spacecraft returns new photos of the dwarf planet Ceres: Ceres Spots Continue to Mystify in Latest Dawn Images The closer we get to Ceres, the more intriguing the distant dwarf planet becomes. New images of Ceres from NASA\u2019s Dawn spacecraft provide more clues about its mysterious bright spots, and also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"pia19579_main-1041","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/pia19579_main-1041-1024x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11332,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11332","url_meta":{"origin":10961,"position":4},"title":"Dawn probe sends new images of Ceres and its mysterious bright spots","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dawn mission releases new images of the dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt and of those odd bright spots: Ceres' Bright Spots Seen in Striking New Detail The brightest spots on the dwarf planet Ceres gleam with mystery in new views delivered by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. These closest-yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"pia19889[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/pia198891.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11027,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11027","url_meta":{"origin":10961,"position":5},"title":"Dawn spacecraft descending to lower orbit above Ceres","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dawn spacecraft is moving to an orbit\u00a0closer to Ceres and will get a better look of those famous bright patches\u00a0and other features on the surface: Dawn Maneuvering to Third Science Orbit Mission Status Report NASA's Dawn spacecraft is using its ion propulsion system to descend to its third mapping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Asteroids &amp; Comets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Asteroids &amp; Comets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=75"},"img":{"alt_text":"PIA19597_hires[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/PIA19597_hires1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10962,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10961\/revisions\/10962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}