I hadn't been paying much attention to the Dawn mission satellite, which has been quietly circling asteroid Ceres for a couple of years after previously visiting and orbiting Vesta.
Apparently it's been moving a bit closer to Ceres to get higher resolution images. And now it's going to move in a lot closer. In fact, it's only been within a little less than 500 km so far. And now it will attempt to get to 35 km away from the surface and try to get a really good look at the bright deposits in Occator Crater. It's high risk, but the mission is near its end, so why not?
Plus, Dawn's reaction wheels, which maintain stability, stopped working last year. So they can make this risky maneuver, see what they get, and then park Dawn in a safe orbit.
Dawn Mission: New Orbit, New Opportunities
NASA is on a 'daring adventure' to get the closest-ever photos of Ceres — a dwarf planet between Mars and Jupiter
Here's a picture acquired by Dawn of two craters on Ceres, Duginavi crater (the big old faded one) and Oxo crater (the small one with the bright spots).
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