OKC March Meeting on Friday, March 14th, 2025 - 7 PM SMO Canceled

OKC Astronomy Club Meeting - Friday, March 14th - Pi Day! 7:00 PM
Location: Science Museum of Oklahoma Auditorium
Presenter: Dr. Marc Rayman, NASA/JPL will be joining us by ZOOM.

Title: “To Boldly Go… Well, You Know: NASA’s Dawn Mission to the Main Asteroid Belt”

Abstract:

The ambitious and exciting Dawn mission was one of NASA’s most remarkable ventures into the solar system. The spacecraft completed a dramatic exploration of Vesta in 2011-2012 and conducted a spectacular mission at Ceres from 2015 until late 2018. These were among the last uncharted worlds in the inner solar system prior to Dawn. They are the two largest residents of the main asteroid belt, that vast collection of bodies between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres is so large that it is included in the category of dwarf planets, along with Pluto.

Dawn is the only spacecraft ever to orbit a dwarf planet and is the only one ever to orbit any two extraterrestrial destinations. Such a mission would have been impossible without the use of ion propulsion, a technology that had largely been in the domain of science fiction before Dawn.

Marc Rayman, who was the mission director and chief engineer (as well as a lifelong space enthusiast), will describe the mission and its unique use of ion propulsion as well as its two exotic destinations. He also will share the excitement and profundity of controlling a spacecraft in deep space.

1 Like

That is really a good article. I enjoyed it very much.

Ida and I will not be able to make it to this meeting. Avoid the line and pay your dues online. If you didn’t get your renewal email which was sent out last month on Feb 12th just let me know and I can resend it to you.

Due to current wather conditions, we are trying to reach our scheduled speaker to reschedule his talk. We cannont broadcast the meeting tonight. A couple of us are going to SMO to catch anyone that shows up and have an abbreviated meeting. You will not be able to pay your dues tonight at the meeting because our Treasurer will not be there. It is easy to renew online and we do not charge a PayPal fee. Sorry for the late notice. Everyone stay safe.

Ron M.

The Meeting tonight is cancelled. Sorry for the late notice.

Ron M.