[meteorite-list] NEAR Shoemaker Makes Historic Touchdown on Asteroid Eros

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:41:09 2004
Message-ID: <200102130253.SAA27557_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://near.jhuapl.edu/news/flash/01feb12_8.html

          For Immediate Release
                                                                                                        Feb. 12, 2001

          Media Contact:
          Helen Worth
          (240) 228-5113
          helen.worth_at_jhuapl.edu

          Mike Buckley
          (240) 228-7536
          michael.buckley_at_jhuapl.edu

          NEAR Shoemaker Makes Historic Touchdown on Asteroid Eros

          Today, at 3:02:10 EST, NASA's NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft
          traveled its last mile, cruising to the surface of
          asteroid Eros at a gentle 4 mph (1.9 meters per
          second)-finally coming to rest after its 2-million-mile
          journey.

          Cheers and congratulations filled the Mission Operations
          Center at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
          Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., which built the
          spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA, when NEAR
          Mission Director Robert Farquhar announced, "I'm happy
          to say the spacecraft is safely on the surface of Eros."

          The last image snapped by NEAR Shoemaker was a mere 394
          feet (120 meters) from the asteroid's surface and
          covered a 20-foot (6-meter) area. As NEAR Shoemaker
          touched down it began sending a beacon, assuring the
          team that the small spacecraft had landed gently. The
          signal was identified by radar science data, and about
          an hour later was locked onto by NASA's Deep Space
          Network antennas, which will monitor the spacecraft
          until Feb. 14.

          NEAR Shoemaker's final descent started with an engine
          burn at 10:31 a.m. (EST) that nudged the spacecraft
          toward Eros from about 16 miles (26 kilometers) away.
          Then four breaking maneuvers brought the spacecraft to
          rest on the asteroid's surface in an area just outside a
          saddle-shaped depression, Himeros. When it touched down,
          NEAR Shoemaker became the first spacecraft ever to land,
          or even attempt to land on an asteroid. The success was
          sweetened by the fact that NEAR Shoemaker was not
          designed as a lander.

          The spacecraft spent the last year in a close-orbit
          study of asteroid 433 Eros, a near-Earth asteroid that
          is currently 196 million miles (316 million kilometers)
          from Earth. During that time it collected 10 times more
          data than originally planned and completed all its
          science goals before attempting its descent to the
          asteroid.

          Details of NEAR Shoemaker's landing will be discussed at
          a post-landing press conference that will be held at
          APL's Kossiakoff Center at 1 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 14.
          Panelists will be:

               Jay Bergstralh, Acting Director, Solar System
               Exploration, NASA Hq., Washington, D.C.

               Robert Farquhar, NEAR Mission Director, APL

               Bobby Williams, Navigation, NASA's Jet
               Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

               Joseph Veverka, Imaging Team Leader, Cornell
               University, Ithaca, N.Y.

               Thomas Coughlin, NEAR Project Manager, APL

               The press conference will be telecast live on
               a Ku band satellite at: Telstar K5 97 degrees
               West Longitude Transponder 12 Downlink
               Frequency 11936 MHz Horizontal Polarity Audio
               6.2 & 6.8

          Media wishing to follow the press conference on the
          Internet can contact NASA Hq. (202-358-1727) or APL
          Public Affairs (240-228-5113) for access instructions
          and passwords. To register for the press conference
          visit the NEAR Web site at http://near.jhuapl.edu and go
          to News Center - Upcoming Events. Images are also
          available on the Web site.
Received on Mon 12 Feb 2001 09:53:00 PM PST