Post on 24-Dec-2015
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NEAR Shoemaker
Brittany Griner
+About spacecraft
renamed after its 1996 launch in honor of planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker
Was a robotic space probe designed by Johns Hopkins for NASA
Was built to study the near-earth asteroid Eros from close orbit for a period of a year
+Missions
Primary mission of NEAR was to return data on the major properties of Eros
Secondary mission was to study interactions of solar winds
The data gathered would be used to understand the characteristics of asteroids in general
Also to study the conditions in the earlier solar system
+Results
NEAR flew past the main-belt asteroid 253 Mathilde, providing the closest view of an asteroid to date and the first look at a C-type asteroid
NEAR flew within 750 miles of the highly cratered Mathilde, taking images and measurements for 25 minutes
NEAR entered into a year-long orbit around Eros on February 14, 2000
The spacecraft circled 21-mile-long potato-shaped space rock at altitudes from 2 to 35 miles, revealing it to be much more exciting and geologically diverse than scientists had expected
+Results
Data suggests that Eros is a cracked but solid rock, with a density similar to Earth’s crust
Eros is geologically active with grooves, ridges, and many craters altered by mass motions of dust and rocky debris believed to be up to 300 feet deep
The final images show clusters of boulders, and sharply delineated areas in some crater bottoms, indicating the story of Eros's composition is still emerging
The NEAR mission returned more 160,000 detailed images
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