NASA’s DAWN mission over dwarf planet Ceres has come to an end

After traveling 3.5 billion miles, the DAWN spacecraft has reached the end of its primary mission over Ceres, a dwarf planet that sits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Since departing in 2007, DAWN became the first vehicle to orbit two separate objects, and the first to visit our Solar System’s asteroid belt for detailed study.

Powered by a breakthrough ion thruster, DAWN arrived at its first destination, asteroid 4 Vesta, on July 16th, 2011, where it spent over a year mapping the surface. On September 5th, 2012, DAWN departed for its next destination, Ceres.