The Dawn spacecraft is a robotic space probe that will be used in NASA's Dawn Mission to orbit and analyze two members of the asteroid belt, the dwarf planet Ceres and the asteroid Vesta. Because the amount of traditional propellant required to make such a journey would be immense, Dawn uses an ion propulsion engine. It will travel three billion miles.Science Daily: NASA Launches Asteroid Mission, Dawn (September 27, 2008)

1. Launch date: September 27, 2007
2. Major contractors: Sciences, JPL, UCLA
3. Mission type: Orbiter
4. Satellite of: Vesta and Ceres
5. Launch vehicle: Delta 7925H
6. October, 2011: Scheduled arrival at VestaSPACE: How NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Will Explore Solar System's Origin (June 27, 2007)
7. February, 2015: Scheduled arrival at CeresSPACE: How NASA's Dawn Spacecraft Will Explore Solar System's Origin (June 27, 2007)
8. Mission duration: 8 years
9. Mission distance: 3 billion milesScience Daily: NASA Launches Asteroid Mission, Dawn (September 27, 2008)