COLLEGE PARK Md.
A NASA probe powered by an ion engine is scheduled to lift off Sunday en route to the dwarf planet Ceres, and researchers at the University of Maryland will be watching with interest.
University of Maryland astronomer Lucy McFadden is a co-investigator and education director for the $449 million project.
“I’m excited, but I don’t want to get too excited until I see the rocket take off,” McFadden told The (Baltimore) Sun.
NASA had cut the Dawn project last year, citing cost overruns and technical issues, but reversed the decision after an appeal by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which manages the mission.
Powered by a xenon ion engine, Dawn would be the first spacecraft to circle Ceres and Vesta. It will spend several months orbiting each asteroid, photographing the surface and studying the interior composition, density and magnetism.
Ceres and Vesta are believed to have formed in different parts of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. Studying them could provide clues to how the sun and planets formed.
