This innovation could change space travel forever

A spacecraft called Dawn just took a giant leap towards changing how we travel through the solar system

An artist's rendering of a far away planet
(Image credit: European Southern Observatory via Getty Images)

In the final hours of Monday, July 4, NASA's Juno spacecraft completed a tricky maneuver with pinpoint accuracy, and in doing so, became the second craft to enter Jupiter's orbit.

But Juno wasn't the only space probe having a big moment. Just days earlier, the Dawn spacecraft completed its mission to the asteroid belt that lies between Mars' and Jupiter's orbits. In the process, it may have ushered in a new technological era in space flight.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.