NASA's Dawn in excellent health to collect data from Ceres post March 6 arrival

NASA's Dawn spacecraft is in excellent shape to collect data from the dwarf planet Ceres after its one month arrival.

Since its capture by the gravity of dwarf planet Ceres on March 6, NASA's Dawn spacecraft has performed flawlessly, continuing to thrust with its ion engine as planned.

The thrust, combined with Ceres' gravity, is gradually guiding the spacecraft into a circular orbit around the dwarf planet. All of the spacecraft's systems and instruments are in excellent health.

Dawn has been following its planned trajectory on the dark side of Ceres, the side facing away from the sun, since early March.

After it entered orbit, the spacecraft's momentum carried it to a higher altitude, reaching a maximum of 46,800 miles on March 18. Today, Dawn was about 26,000 miles above Ceres, descending toward the first planned science orbit, which will be 8,400 miles above the surface.

On May 9, Dawn will complete its first Ceres science phase and begin to spiral down to a lower orbit to observe Ceres from a closer vantage point.