NASA is lead to send the Dawn space vehicle nearer to the dwarf planet Ceres than ever before , swooping to just 30 kilometers ( 18 mile ) above the surface .

Dawn has been in orbit around Ceres since 2015 , having orbited the protoplanet Vesta previously from 2011 to 2012 . It ’s the first spacecraft to revolve two extraterrestrial objects .

In October this year , NASA decided toextend the missionaround Ceres until at least the second one-half of 2018 , or until the space vehicle fails .

During a lecture at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in New Orleans on December 12 , deputy master research worker for the mission Carol Raymond outlined some of the new plans for the mission .

“ We ’re lead to be using an elliptical orbit to plunk nearer to the open than we have before , down to 30 kilometer EL , ” she say , reportedSpaceNews . That ’s 13 times lower than the International Space Station ( ISS ) orbits Earth . The previous closest approaching for the mission was 385 kilometers ( 240 miles ) .

This fresh tightlipped approaching will allow Dawn to take well images of the airfoil than ever before . Recent discoveries have made Ceres all the more interesting , with grounds suggesting it may have had aglobal oceanin the past .

The nanus planet continues to be alluring today , with burnished spots on the satellite – thought to be saltiness - rich fabric – hint at possiblegeologic activeness . The face of the dwarf planet may even still be changing today .

Mission contriver hope to move Ceres into its young orbit in leaping 2018 , when it will be capable to continue these skinny swoops for three to four month . After that , it ’s thought that its supply of hydrazine – used to orientate the spacecraft – will die hard out .

Once it has exhausted its fuel , it will be unable to point its antenna at Earth and communicate with us . At this point , the spacecraft will have been put into a parking orbit , where it will be pass on to orbit the dwarf satellite for the rest of its days .

This elliptic orbit for certain makes for an exciting end to the mission though , with the promise that it will tell us more about the origination and evolution of Ceres . There is enough more interesting science to derive that will no doubt keep scientists busy for yr after the commission has concluded .

( H / T : SpaceNews )