KSC-07pd1557

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- This closeup reveals the repair made to the damage on a solar array panel on the Dawn spacecraft. The damage, incurred on June 11, was made by a technician's tool during a procedure to prepare Dawn for spin-balance testing. The size of the affected area is about 2.5 inches by 2 inches. There was no impact to the launch date of July 7. Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch 4.5 billion years ago by investigating in detail two of the largest asteroids, Ceres and Vesta. They reside between Mars and Jupiter in the asteroid belt Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton