Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 09:03:36 -0800 (PST)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: NEAR Shoemaker Image Of The Day - February 9, 2001
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NEAR image of the day for 2001 Feb 09
http://near.jhuapl.edu/iod/20010209/
NEAR Shoemaker's Descent
QuickTime: Small (2.3 MB) Large (6.6 MB)
This 6-scene animated sequence shows the NEAR Shoemaker
spacecraft as might look when it descends from orbit
above Eros to the surface of the asteroid on Feb. 12.
Hydrazine engine bursts slow the spacecraft so it can
descend gently.
NEAR Shoemaker will de-orbit with an engine burn at
10:31 a.m. EST, about 4 ½ hours before it's scheduled to
reach the surface. The final leg of the controlled
descent begins with the spacecraft about 5 kilometers (3
miles) above the surface; it will then execute an
unprecedented series of four engine burns designed to
slow its descent from about 20 mph to about 5 mph. NEAR
Shoemaker is expected to touch down in an area just
outside Himeros, the asteroid's distinctive
saddle-shaped depression, after providing the
highest-resolution images ever taken of Eros'
boulder-strewn, cratered terrain.
--------------------------------------------------------
Built and managed by The Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland,
NEAR-Shoemaker was the first spacecraft launched in
NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, small-scale
planetary missions. See the NEAR web site for more
details (http://near.jhuapl.edu) .
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