Professor Christopher Russell, the California Space Grant Consortium’s campus director for UC Los Angeles, was invited to give a talk at the National Council of Space Grant Directors Fall Meeting in Charleston, South Carolina in October. Supported by the California Space Grant, the presentation was entitled The Dawn Discovery Mission: A Voyage in Space and Time.

Chris Russell (center) with CaSGC Director John Kosmatka and Asst. Director Tehseen Lazzouni

Professor Russell’s presentation covered:

• Formation of the solar system and asteroid belt evolution
• Primitive meteorites
• Historical interest in the gap between Mars and Jupiter and discovery of asteroids Vesta and Ceres
• Evolution of the Dawn mission through the NASA Discovery solicitation
• Use of ion propulsion
• Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres
• Scientific findings on Vesta
• Current voyage to Ceres

For more information about Professor Russell’s presentation, please download either version:

Without Videos (12 MB)

With Videos (61.5 MB)