Feb. 12 — The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touched down on a barren space rock called Eros on Monday, marking history’s first successful landing on an asteroid. Scientists said the probe sent signals back to Earth after making contact, indicating that the car-sized probe survived the descent.
“THIS IS THE first time that any spacecraft has landed on a small body,” mission director Bob Farquhar announced shortly after 3 p.m. ET.
The touchdown marked the climax of the $223 million, 5-year NEAR Shoemaker mission — whose name combines the acronym for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous with recognition for the late astronomer Gene Shoemaker. The spacecraft had orbited Eros for nearly a year.
The day began with a series of rocket firings that pushed NEAR out of its 15-mile orbit, down toward the surface of Eros, 196 million miles from Earth. Shaped like a tin can with solar panels attached, the probe was never meant to land on the 21-mile-long asteroid. The primary goal was merely “to get a little bonus science” by taking sharper images as the craft descended, Farquhar said.
The images did not disappoint: Farquhar said he was “absolutely amazed” by the pictures, which showed a surprisingly smooth surface with few fresh craters.
SUCCESSFUL FIRING
Controllers calculated that at impact, the probe was moving only about 3.4 miles an hour relative to the surface of the asteroid, about the speed of a fast walk.
After the landing, Farquhar reported that NEAR was still sending a carrier signal back to Earth. Such a signal can’t transmit images or other substantial data, but it gave the controllers at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory some hope that the probe might be capable of sending back at least low-speed data.
The unprecedented landing came while astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis were hooking up a new science laboratory for the International Space Station. When Mission Control told spacewalker Thomas Jones about NEAR’s achievement, he replied that the news was “fantastic.”
“I hope we’ll have some astronauts following to the asteroid in just a few years,” Jones said.
Want to learn MORE?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/529657.asp
------------------
"I'd like an order of fries, a quarter pounder with cheese, I love the light in your eyes, would you go out with me please? I am in love with a McDonald's Girl, she has a smile of innocence so tender and warm, she is an angel in a polyester uniform."
“THIS IS THE first time that any spacecraft has landed on a small body,” mission director Bob Farquhar announced shortly after 3 p.m. ET.
The touchdown marked the climax of the $223 million, 5-year NEAR Shoemaker mission — whose name combines the acronym for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous with recognition for the late astronomer Gene Shoemaker. The spacecraft had orbited Eros for nearly a year.
The day began with a series of rocket firings that pushed NEAR out of its 15-mile orbit, down toward the surface of Eros, 196 million miles from Earth. Shaped like a tin can with solar panels attached, the probe was never meant to land on the 21-mile-long asteroid. The primary goal was merely “to get a little bonus science” by taking sharper images as the craft descended, Farquhar said.
The images did not disappoint: Farquhar said he was “absolutely amazed” by the pictures, which showed a surprisingly smooth surface with few fresh craters.
SUCCESSFUL FIRING
Controllers calculated that at impact, the probe was moving only about 3.4 miles an hour relative to the surface of the asteroid, about the speed of a fast walk.
After the landing, Farquhar reported that NEAR was still sending a carrier signal back to Earth. Such a signal can’t transmit images or other substantial data, but it gave the controllers at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory some hope that the probe might be capable of sending back at least low-speed data.
The unprecedented landing came while astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis were hooking up a new science laboratory for the International Space Station. When Mission Control told spacewalker Thomas Jones about NEAR’s achievement, he replied that the news was “fantastic.”
“I hope we’ll have some astronauts following to the asteroid in just a few years,” Jones said.
Want to learn MORE?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/529657.asp
------------------
"I'd like an order of fries, a quarter pounder with cheese, I love the light in your eyes, would you go out with me please? I am in love with a McDonald's Girl, she has a smile of innocence so tender and warm, she is an angel in a polyester uniform."