NEAR Shoemaker
NEAR Shoemaker was an American spacecraft of NASA, which was launched in 1996 to study the asteroid Eros. NEAR stands for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous ( rendezvous with German erdnahem asteroids ); the additional name " Shoemaker " received the probe in 2000 after the death of the leading geo-and planetary scientists Eugene Shoemaker.
Measuring instruments
The 818 kg mass spacecraft was the first, which started as part of the Discovery Program of NASA. The instruments she wore next to cameras a magnetometer, X-ray and gamma-ray spectrometer, infrared sensors and a laser rangefinder. As an international partner Germany was involved.
Course
NEAR left the Earth on February 17, 1996 a Delta II rocket. In March 1996, the probe was able to send some pictures of the comet Hyakutake from a great distance. A flyby of asteroid (253 ) Mathilde took place on 27 June 1997. The distance was 1200 km. The probe sent some pictures. The injection into orbit around the asteroid Eros failed initially to the year 1998/ 1999.
A year later than planned, on 14 February 2000, NEAR reached the desired orbit around Eros. The probe was the first asteroid orbiter in space history. Over the following months the asteroid was thoroughly investigated. The orbit was lowered from 350 km up to 50 km. After a year in orbit around Eros on 12 February 2001, the probe successfully landed on the asteroid's surface. This, too, was a novelty in space, as it was not designed for a landing. Until 28 February 2001 sent the probe data of the asteroid's surface, after which the contact broke off, because the solar panels no longer showed towards the sun. Another contact attempt in March of the same year was unsuccessful.
Result
The Discovery program NASA was partly designed to bring technologically and scientifically new. With NEAR had succeeded. The probe was the first asteroid orbiter and fully led the first landing on an asteroid - without that you had installed appropriate landing systems. For a probe as part of the Discovery program, it was relatively well equipped with instruments ( six experiments and sensors) and could at least explore Eros accurate than all previous asteroids.
Missions of other probes to the asteroids
- Galileo Gaspra in 1991 and 1993 to Ida
- Deep Space 1 1999 to Braille
- Stardust 2002 Anne Frank
- Hayabusa 2005 Itokawa
- Rosetta 2008 Šteins and 2010 to Lutetia
- Dawn 2011 to Vesta and Ceres 2015