After a frustrating set of July launch delays, a decision has been made by the Dawn Project to launch Dawn in its September / October launch window.

Update: The September 27 launch was a success!

(The mosaic shows the exhaust trail from Dawn's Delta II launch vehicle superimposed on the sunrise over Cape Canaveral. Photo Credit: Randy Pollock)

What, you haven't heard of Dawn?

You are not alone. NASA's Dawn mission to orbit the asteroids Vesta and Ceres has existed mostly out of the public eye, supported by a small, but dedicated group of scientists and engineers, of whom many live and work outside of the United States, because two of the three Dawn instruments were built by NASA's foreign partners. 'Out of the public eye' for Dawn also, at times, meant literally out, because Dawn was twice canceled by NASA.

Such a rocky road of mission development seems appropriate for Dawn, however, since its goal is to investigate the early dawn of solar system evolution, out of which the asteroids and their larger cousins, our rocky (terrestrial) planets formed.

Targets

Today ended more than a year of hard work for Europe's space-based scientists and their collaborators located all over the world. It was final submittal day to the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Program. The proposals responding to this call, encompassing approximately 1000-2000 proposal-writing-dazed scientists, will eventually lead to the selection of one medium-sized mission (Class M) to enter the implementation phase in 2012, with a launch foreseen in the mid-2017 time-frame. The Call also invites proposals for concepts of more ambitious missions of the flagship category, a Class L mission, that will require an extended preparation.

From a presentation at a briefing in April: Based on the parameters of Class M/L missions, the average mission frequency is expected to be one launch every 15 to 18 months. Future calls are expected to take place every 3-4 years, which are structured to meet the needs (mix of missions, balance of disciplines) and financial planning of the Cosmic Vision plan.

The evaluation of these proposals will be made during July through September 2007. In October, the selection of three M Class missions and three L Class missions will be announced to enter Phase A studies.