The Dawn mission is a robotic exploration of two major asteroids. And NASA senior management announced a decision Monday to reinstate the mission. Technical problems and cost overruns led to the cancellation of the mission.



The mission is named Dawn mission because it was designed to study objects dating from the dawn of the solar system. It would then travel to Vesta and Ceres — two of the largest asteroids orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter.



A review process that is part of new management procedures established by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, resulted in the reinstatement of the mission. The process is intended not only to help ensure open debate but also thorough evaluation of major decisions regarding space exploration and agency operations.



The Dawn decision document will be available on the NASA Website.



Via: NASA