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Dawn’s trajectory at Ceres in XMO4

Dawn’s trajectory at Ceres in XMO4
Dawn’s trajectory at Ceres in XMO4 This figure (and the one below) shows Dawn’s trajectory from high above Ceres’ equator. North is at the top. The sun is now far behind you and off to your left a little. The smaller green orbit is XMO3, in which Dawn orbited counterclockwise in the plane of this diagram. Ion thrusting is shown in solid blue, and the dashed segments of the trajectory are coasting. The maneuvers began on the right side as the spacecraft was heading north. The first two thrust periods propel the ship to higher orbital altitudes. Far above the south pole, the third thrust segment, at the bottom of the figure, swivels the orbit so Dawn flies out of the screen toward you. Following the fourth thrust period to fine tune its path as it travels to the north, the spacecraft settles into the new green orbit, and when it gets to the plus sign, it is exactly on the line from Occator Crater to the sun. NASA / JPL-Caltech