Dawn Spacecraft

2015 will be an exciting year for solar system exploration and discovery. NASA´s Dawn spacecraft will arrive to Ceres (the largest object in the asteroid belt) on March 6, and NASA´s New Horizons spacecraft will arrive to Pluto on July 15.

This Lego project is about the arrival of Dawn to dwarf planet Ceres, a world made of rock and ice, until now practically unknown. Previously the same spacecraft explored the asteroid Vesta, another important member of the main asteroid belt.

The detailed study of Vesta and Ceres is very important to understand the beginnings of our solar system, because both are remmants of the early stages of the formation of it. Dawn's mission is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

This Lego project includes:

1. A model of the Dawn spacecraft, with a detailed representation of it main components: solar pannels, ion thrusters and scientific instruments. For the spacecraft I used 235 bricks. Also I include a stand (36 additional bricks).
2. A model of the dwarf planet Ceres (not at the same scale as the spacecraft). 236 bricks were used.
3. A simplified JPL’s control room, with minifigures of two members of the Dawn mission team (66 bricks). These scientists and engineers from NASA and JPL are very important. They have planned the mission, designed the spacecraft and its components, and are now controlling the spacecraft, gathering and analyzing information that Dawn is sending to Earth from Ceres.

Total brick count: 573 pcs

You can find high resolution pictures on my flickr album

https://flic.kr/s/aHsk8eskxq

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This project could become an official Lego set if it gathers 10,000 votes. Voting is easy, free and without any obligation, you just have to press the blue button "Support". If you do not have an account on Lego Ideas, you must register, you will receive an email to activate your account and then you can already vote. Also you can help a lot by sharing the idea in Facebook and Twitter with your friends and invite them to vote.

Thank you very much for visiting this project.

Kind regards

Luis

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More information about Dawn at

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/

Other related Lego Space Exploration projects

If you like the Dawn Spacecraft, be sure to visit my other Lego Space Exploration Projects:

Sputnik 1957, the first artificial satellite. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/81706

Soyuz Spacecraft, a minifig scale model of the Soyuz 7K-OK (1967 variant),https://ideas.lego.com/projects/88562

Saturn V and Launch Facilities, https://ideas.lego.com/projects/88991

Apollo 11, an accurate reproduction of the CSM Apollo and lunar module Eagle.https://ideas.lego.com/projects/84718

Apollo 11 Rescue Mission. A set about the rescue ofthe astronauts and recovery of the Apollo 11 command module in the Pacific Ocean. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/86997

Lunar Rover (1971-1972). https://ideas.lego.com/projects/91179

Apollo Soyuz Mission 1975 (minifig scale). The first joint US-Russia mission.https://ideas.lego.com/projects/89624

Voyager Mission 1979-2014. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/82995

Orion Exploration Flight Test 2014, https://ideas.lego.com/projects/87437

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Software used in this project:

Virtual model building:

Lego Digital Designer (LDD), http://ldd.lego.com/en-us/

Pictures rendering:  

LDD2POVRAY, http://ldd2povray.lddtools.com/
POVRAY, http://www.povray.org/

Custom decals design:

Inkscape, https://www.inkscape.org/en/

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