Dawn probe to explore origins of solar system

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US spacecraft Dawn, due to launch on Sunday, will take a close look at two massive asteroids to try to penetrate the mystery of our solar system's origins 4.6 billion years ago.

By examining the two celestial bodies Ceres and Vesta in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, scientists hope the unmanned Dawn probe will shed light on the earliest moments in the birth of the solar system.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) says the Dawn mission should provide a better understanding of the building blocks that formed the terrestrial planets and how the two "protoplanets" followed different evolutionary paths.

The deep-space explorer, measuring 1.64 meters (yards) long and 1.27 meters (yards) wide when its solar...