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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;desertgem, post: 1503415, member: 15199&quot;]Off topic, but I think pointing out misconceptions is important. From the 9/12 edition of Discover, an article on the discoveries of the &quot;Dawn&quot; spacecraft and its photos of Vesta, just slightly smaller than Ceres ( asteroids). It is an amazing article if you think the US in any way has lost the lead. The largest surprise is that this craft is going to be leaving Vesta ( and its 14 mile high mountain) and going to go to Ceres. It is only using the 937 lbs of xenon it contained at launch to do this. Chemical rockets of the past would have needed 2.5 tons of fuel just to get to Vesta, more to orbit, and could not have left Vesta and gone to Ceres ( 900 million miles away from Vesta).</p><p><br /></p><p>Dawn uses twin ion drive engines ( remember the Tie fighters). Solar panels produced electrical energy to ionize xenon gas which leaves the nozzle at 90,000 MPH. and can control the speed and the orbiting of the craft around Vesta. read the Article ~ Fantastic IMO. It isn&#039;t theory, It is working very well!</p><p><br /></p><p>Jim[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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