American space agency, NASA, said the unmanned Dawn spacecraft was ready to drop into orbit around the asteroid Vesta is 530 kilometers wide, the two largest objects in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
If all goes according to plan, Dawn began orbiting the huge stone was a Saturday morning Eastern U.S. time, after traveling for four years. The plane robotic probe will become the first spacecraft in the history of objects orbiting in the main asteroid's path.
Engineers said Vesta and the Dawn mission will be separated by a distance of approximately 16 thousand kilometers when space rocks that berkawah capture the spacecraft in its orbit. At that time, NASA says an asteroid and man-made satellite that will be approximately 188 million kilometers from Earth.
Dawn will remain in orbit around Vesta for a year, mapping the surface of the asteroid and make observations which, according to NASA will help scientists understand the earliest history of the solar system, roughly 4 billion years ago.
In July 2012, the Dawn spacecraft will orbit Vesta exit and go towards meeting the second orbit, three years later, with the largest object in the path of asteroids, dwarf planets Cerres, nearly 975 kilometers wide.
Aircraft NASA Orbiting the asteroid Vesta Ready
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