Shuttle EVA trumps NEAR landing attempt
Shuttle EVA trumps NEAR landing attempt Posted: Mon, Feb 12 2001 11:34 AM ET (1634 GMT) It appears that NASA believes that a relatively routine Space Shuttle EVA is more important that the first attempt to land a spacecraft on the surface on a planetoid: http://www.spacetoday.net/getsummary.php?id=77 == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
NEAR might be launched from Eros!
MISSION TEAM CONSIDER RELAUNCHING NEAR SHOEMAKER FROM EROS From Space.com, 12 February 2001 http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/nearlanding_preview_010212.html By Leonard David Senior Space Writer LAUREL, MARYLAND - What goes down, may come back up again. Engineers at APL are looking at the prospects for relaunching the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft from the surface of asteroid Eros. A command is already built into the probe as it rests upon the space rock's surface. The liftoff from the asteroid is on tap for this Wednesday, roughly 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, according to David Dunham, NEAR's mission designer at APL. The launch from Eros would be after nine rotations of the asteroid following today's NEAR Shoemaker landing, Dunham said. "Since we've got a lock on the signal, it's got to be pretty much in the right position" for the liftoff, said Dunham. Dunham said the probe may rise upwards well over 1,300 feet (400 meters) above Eros. "It could sit in the dirt and wiggle a little bit before liftoff. These are weaker thrusters on the spacecraft," he said. Some thought has been given to sequencing a double boost of thrust from the asteroid, hurtling it perhaps as high as a kilometer above the asteroid. Dunham said that if the camera has not been damaged in the first landing, more images above the asteroid could be taken. However, pictures of the first landing spot on Eros are not likely to come into view, he said. The spacecraft would then settle down to a new landing spot. "The whole thing is just more icing on the cake," Dunham said. The NASA probe had already happily surprised scientists earlier today, when it made space history with a successful landing atop an asteroid more than 196 million miles (316 million kilometers) from Earth. "I'm happy to report the near spacecraft has touched down on the surface of Eros. We're still getting some signals, so evidently it's still transmitting from the surface itself. This is the first time that any spacecraft has landed on a small body," said Robert Farquhar, NEAR mission director at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics (APL) Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin was among the first to congratulate the team. "I'm just overwhelmed with the courage and talent it took to get to this point," Goldin said shortly after the landing. The car-sized NEAR Shoemaker probe has been orbiting Eros since February 14, 2000. Since it began looping the tumbling space rock almost a year ago -- at a range of high and low-altitudes over Eros -- the craft has amassed an asteroid photo gallery made up of 150,000 snapshots. Touchdown took place shortly after 3:05 p.m. Eastern time. The spacecraft fell onto the dust-laden, cratered, and rock-piled surface of Eros. While the vehicle is a fully equipped science spacecraft, NEAR Shoemaker is without landing legs or airbag. "We're right on the money," cried out mission controllers as the craft drifted closer and closer to Eros. Images relayed on the way down to the surface showed what appears to be ancient craters buried below the thick, dusty face of Eros. "We're seeing things really well," said Joseph Veverka, NEAR's imaging team leader from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. "The pictures are absolutely fantastic. This is a great experience to just sit here and accompany a spacecraft down to the surface." In one image, a giant boulder could be clearly seen fractured in at least six pieces. As one image after another reached Earth, the spacecraft appeared to be headed toward a smooth landing surface. For over four-and-a-half hours, as engineers and scientists here at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) cheered close-up images the probe sent back during its descent, the probe drifted down toward the rock of ages. APL built and managed the NEAR mission for NASA, one of the Discovery-class of probes that signals a cheaper, better, faster approach to space exploration. Price tag for this long-term survey of an asteroid by the econo-class spacecraft: $223 million. NEAR's mission control at The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory reported the craft blasted its hydrazine-fueled motors for 20 second starting at 10:31 a.m. Eastern time. The burst of rocket thrust moved the NASA probe out of its current orbit 22-miles (35-kilometers) above Eros. The spacecraft immediately began dropping toward Eros. In the next four-and-a-half hours, a series of braking maneuvers led to the spacecraft making contact with Eros. Small body, big hopes The craft has relayed a bounty of scientific data about the asteroid, including some 160,000 images that covered all of the 21-mile-long (34-kilometers) asteroid's surface. Eros is moving in a clockwise direction as it spins on its axis. NEAR Shoemaker drifted onto the surface of Eros, softly touching down in an area bordering Himeros - a distinctive saddle-shaped depression. On the way down to
CCNet 25/2001 - 13 February 2001: NEAR-SHOEMAKER SPECIAL III
From: Peiser Benny [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: cambridge-conference [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: CCNet, 13 February 2001: RELAUNCH OF NEAR SHOEMAKER TOMORROW? Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 10:49:15 - CCNet 25/2001 - 13 February 2001: NEAR-SHOEMAKER SPECIAL III "I am happy to report that the NEAR has touched down. We are still getting signals. It is still transmitting from the surface." --Robert Farquhar, NEAR Mission Director, 12 February 2001 "Engineers at APL are looking at the prospects for relaunching the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft from the surface of asteroid Eros. A command is already built into the probe as it rests upon the space rock's surface. The liftoff from the asteroid is on tap for this Wednesday, roughly 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, according to David Dunham, NEAR's mission designer at APL. The launch from Eros would be after nine rotations of the asteroid following today's NEAR Shoemaker landing, Dunham said." --Leonard David, Space.com, 12 February 2001 (1) MISSION TEAM CONSIDER RELAUNCHING NEAR SHOEMAKER FROM EROS Space.com, 12 February 2001 (2) NEAR SHOEMAKER MAKES HISTORIC TOUCHDOWN ON ASTEROID EROS Ron Baalke [EMAIL PROTECTED] (3) AMERICAN CRAFT LANDS ON ASTEROID Spaceprogramme News, 13 February 2001 (4) NEAR SHOEMAKER SURVIVES ASTEROID LANDING Spaceflight Now [EMAIL PROTECTED]] (5) SPACECRAFT MAKES IMPROBABLE LANDING ON ASTEROID CNN, 12 February 2001 (6) METEORITES HARDER TO TRACE THAN FAMILY TREES Ron Baalke [EMAIL PROTECTED] (7) CATASTOPHE/APOCALYPSE COURSE AT BARD COLLEGE Benny J Peiser [EMAIL PROTECTED] (8) NEO DEFLECTION BY NEO COLLISION/FLY-BY Christian Gritzner [EMAIL PROTECTED] = (1) MISSION TEAM CONSIDER RELAUNCHING NEAR SHOEMAKER FROM EROS From Space.com, 12 February 2001 http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/nearlanding_preview_010212.htm l By Leonard David Senior Space Writer LAUREL, MARYLAND - What goes down, may come back up again. Engineers at APL are looking at the prospects for relaunching the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft from the surface of asteroid Eros. A command is already built into the probe as it rests upon the space rock's surface. The liftoff from the asteroid is on tap for this Wednesday, roughly 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, according to David Dunham, NEAR's mission designer at APL. The launch from Eros would be after nine rotations of the asteroid following today's NEAR Shoemaker landing, Dunham said. "Since we've got a lock on the signal, it's got to be pretty much in the right position" for the liftoff, said Dunham. Dunham said the probe may rise upwards well over 1,300 feet (400 meters) above Eros. "It could sit in the dirt and wiggle a little bit before liftoff. These are weaker thrusters on the spacecraft," he said. Some thought has been given to sequencing a double boost of thrust from the asteroid, hurtling it perhaps as high as a kilometer above the asteroid. Dunham said that if the camera has not been damaged in the first landing, more images above the asteroid could be taken. However, pictures of the first landing spot on Eros are not likely to come into view, he said. The spacecraft would then settle down to a new landing spot. "The whole thing is just more icing on the cake," Dunham said. The NASA probe had already happily surprised scientists earlier today, when it made space history with a successful landing atop an asteroid more than 196 million miles (316 million kilometers) from Earth. "I'm happy to report the near spacecraft has touched down on the surface of Eros. We're still getting some signals, so evidently it's still transmitting from the surface itself. This is the first time that any spacecraft has landed on a small body," said Robert Farquhar, NEAR mission director at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics (APL) Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. NASA Administrator Dan Goldin was among the first to congratulate the team. "I'm just overwhelmed with the courage and talent it took to get to this point," Goldin said shortly after the landing. The car-sized NEAR Shoemaker probe has been orbiting Eros since February 14, 2000. Since it began looping the tumbling space rock almost a year ago -- at a range of high and low-altitudes over Eros -- the craft has amassed an asteroid photo gallery made up of 150,000 snapshots. Touchdown took place shortly after 3:05 p.m. Eastern time. The spacecraft fell onto the dust-laden, cratered, and rock-piled surface of Eros. While the vehicle is a fully equipped science spacecraft, NEAR Shoemaker is without landing legs or airbag. "We're right on the money," cried out mission controllers as the craft drifted closer and closer to Eros. Images relayed on the way down to the surface showed what appears to be ancient craters buried below the thick, dusty face of Eros. "We're seeing things really well," said Joseph
Re: Shuttle EVA trumps NEAR landing attempt
It appears that NASA believes that a relatively routine Space Shuttle EVA is more important that the first attempt to land a spacecraft on the surface on a planetoid: Hey, NASA's got quite a bit more $$$ tied up in the EVA. You make the call. Jayme Lynn Blaschke ___ *The Dust* by Jayme Lynn Blaschke now available from Mooncast Shadows http://www.exoticdeer.org/chapbook.html Blaschke Home Realm http://www.vvm.com/~caius The Blaschke Home Realm http://www.vvm.com/~caius (u are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
Re: Shuttle EVA trumps NEAR landing attempt
In a message dated 2/13/2001 7:14:37 AM Alaskan Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: It appears that NASA believes that a relatively routine=20 Space Shuttle EVA is more important that the first attempt=20 to land a spacecraft on the surface on a planetoid: Hey, NASA's got quite a bit more $$$ tied up in the EVA. You make the = call. The first time one of these asteroid landers comes back with a detailed chemical / mineralogical analysis of an asteroid, with a workable extraction plan, the priorities list will change. If you were a wealthy entrepreneur / businessman, which would YOU prefer: another 'Dr. Science' experiment in the space shuttle, or the practical discovery of real wealth waiting to be exploited? -- JHB == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
RE: Shuttle EVA trumps NEAR landing attempt
My sentiments exactly JHB. Vanhin. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 12:18 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Shuttle EVA trumps NEAR landing attempt In a message dated 2/13/2001 7:14:37 AM Alaskan Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: It appears that NASA believes that a relatively routine=20 Space Shuttle EVA is more important that the first attempt=20 to land a spacecraft on the surface on a planetoid: Hey, NASA's got quite a bit more $$$ tied up in the EVA. You make the = call. The first time one of these asteroid landers comes back with a detailed chemical / mineralogical analysis of an asteroid, with a workable extraction plan, the priorities list will change. If you were a wealthy entrepreneur / businessman, which would YOU prefer: another 'Dr. Science' experiment in the space shuttle, or the practical discovery of real wealth waiting to be exploited? -- JHB == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
