Dawn Space Probe

Dawn is a space probe launched by NASA in 27 September 2007 with the mission of studying two of the three known protoplanets of the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres. Dawn entered Vesta orbit on July 16, 2011, and completed a 14-month survey mission before leaving for Ceres in late 2012. It is currently in orbit about its second target, the dwarf planet Ceres (arrived in March 2015). It is the first spacecraft to orbit two extraterrestrial bodies, the first spacecraft to visit either Vesta or Ceres, and also the first to visit a dwarf planet.

The Dawn mission's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the Solar System's earliest eon by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formation. The primary question that the mission addresses is the role of size and water in determining the evolution of the planets.