[meteorite-list] NEAR Bounces to Historic Landing on Asteroid Eros

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:41:10 2004
Message-ID: <200102142109.NAA15083_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

> > Its nice to be right. From:
> > http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010212/ts/space_eros_dc_7.html
> > comes the quote:
> >
> > "It probably bounced at least once, possibly as high as 100 yards before
> it
> > came to a stop, astronomers said."

Sorry, it turn out this is incorrect.

> If true, I want extra-credit for predicting a bounce or
> bounces also! ;-) However, I've seen at least one report
> that said the thrusters were still firing at the time of
> the initial impact and continued to do so afterward,
> so if I was in the "no-bounce camp", I would declare all
> bets off. [I still say it would have bounced, thrusting
> or not.]
>

At the NEAR press conference, they confirmed the thrusters
were still firing when it touched down. They've also discounted
the spacecraft bouncing, and of course, it came nowhere near
from bouncing off. I'm about to post the latest NEAR status
report which mentions this.

Ron Baalke
Received on Wed 14 Feb 2001 04:09:19 PM PST