It ’s a bit of a interracial bag for planetary scientific discipline fans today . On the one hand , Cassini has just returned theclosest ever imagesof Saturn . On the other , the Dawn spacecraft   is in a spot of bother .

One of the two remaining working chemical reaction wheels used to orient the space vehicle presently in orbit around Ceres has malfunctioned , according to NASA . This basically means the spacecraft is not capable to ferment itself properly anymore .

The bike ( one of four ) stopped working on April 23 , with engineers discovering the effect a day later . However , they ’ve been able-bodied to employ thrusters on the ballistic capsule to replace the chore of this roulette wheel , so apparently the ease of the mission will not be affect .

" We already have a corking deal of experience fly Dawn without reaction wheels , " Marc Rayman , chief engineer for Dawn , tell IFLScience . " We are well inclined to continue the mission without the use of wheel . "

Reaction wheels are used by spacecraft to alter their orientation in a particular bloc . They are essentially gyroscope , spinning in a particular guidance to change which manner a spacecraft is looking .

They are unbelievably utilitarian , as they want small or no fuel , but they are not without problem . Perhaps the most infamous response wheel issue come about on NASA ’s major planet - huntingKepler telescope . When it lose three of its four wheels , scientists rather had to use the force of the Sun ’s photons hitting the spacecraft as a makeshift wheel .

On Dawn , it has hydrazine thrusters that can replace the job of this wheel , and the squad had ostensibly been prepare for this outcome . Its other two fail wheels lay off working in 2010 and 2012 , so Rayman said they were quick for this third bicycle failing , and the mission can continue as design .

Dawn is still in orbit around Ceres , where it has been for more than two years , and it is about to perform a new study on the mysterious Occator Crater , which has a lot of vivid stuff in it .

By positioning itself between the volcanic crater and the Sun , it ’s hoped we ’ll get new insight into what this cloth is precisely . The spacecraft   will be brought down into an orbit about 25,400 km ( 15,800 mi ) above Ceres .

Dawn is look to go forward military operation around Ceres until afterward this yr , when it will be release off and left in orbit around the dwarf satellite . In July 2016 , it wasdenied an exciting new missionto go and explore an asteroid called 145 Adeona in May 2019 . Instead , NASA decide to keep the ballistic capsule in orbit around Ceres .