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Space Cars Pictures GalleryAdvanced Photoshop Pictures Gallery - 8 image entries
Contest Directions: 
NASA is launching its new spacecraft Dawn this Wednesday. Because the spacecraft is relatively compact, light, and needs only a small amount of fuel, NASA calls it the "Prius of space". Dawn is the first spacecraft that will travel to one celestial body (asteroid Vesta), study it, and then fly to another celestial body (the dwarf planet Ceres) for further research - the whole trip will take about seven years. Latest technology advances will soon allow NASA to make spacecrafts the size of cars which also use little fuel.
Design cars suitable for space missions, or turn spacecrafts into cars. Your "vehicle" can be shown in space, on the planets, or on earth (e.g. "space cars" being used in Formula 1 races.)
Tags: space cars
Top 8 Contest Gallery Pictures
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| | This contest is fueled by the following news: |
| | NASA is getting ready to long pending launch of spacecraft Dawn, first trial is scheduled for tomorrow September 27, 2007 reports Reuters.
Dawn will be launched on a mission to study the asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter. Aim of the spacecraft is to explore two asteroid belt residents Vesta and Ceres, which was once considered an asteroid and now a dwarf planet from August 2006 according to the new classification. It is likely that the Vesta can be explored in 2011 and Ceres in 2015.
Spacecraft should have been launched in July but NASA had postponed the launch time several times due to technical snags and due to the commitments of the space.
If everything goes according to plans, Dawn will become first spacecraft, which traveled the asteroids owing to high effective ion engine. NASA calls it a space car for its size and low fuel use. According to the estimations of scientists, these two asteroids were formed in different parts of Solar system approximately 4.6 billion years back. According to the assumptions of scientists, Ceres can store significant water reserves in the form of ice and at the same time, surface of Vesta, most probably, is covered with ancient lava streams.
In case, if the car like spacecraft cannot be lifted off by the end of October 2007, then NASA should wait for another 15 years for mutual configuration of planets and asteroids, which us favorable for space mission. |
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