14 years since the first soft landing on an asteroid earth apparatus Bashny.Net

14 years have passed since the first soft landing on an asteroid earth apparatus. February 14, 2001 at near-Earth asteroid Eros a > sat spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker . A year earlier, 14 February 2000, the unit went into orbit Eros, where he made the first images and data collected on the surface.





Eros - the first open-Earth asteroid. It found astronomer Carl Witt in 1898. In the distant future, as considered in 1996 scientists may clash with the Earth Eros . The first artificial satellite of the asteroid became apparatus NEAR Spacecraft.



The casing was shaped like a prism, to install solar panels on top. The upper base of the prism - antenna diameter of 1, 5 meters. The total mass of fuel - 805 kg without fuel - 487 kg. For research he used multispectral camera, infrared spectrometer, a laser altimeter, gamma ray spectrometer, magnetometer and radioostsilyator.



February 17, 1996 launched the spacecraft NEAR, he headed toward the asteroid Mathilde. Journey took 16 months. In 1997, the unit flew a distance of 1200 km from the asteroid, making hundred shots.



February 14, 2000 NEAR Shoemaker went into orbit of Eros with a period of 27, 6 days, where he spent the next year. Then he made the first images of the asteroid and collected data on its surface and geology. Below - the first picture after reaching orbit.





February 14, 2001 came news of a successful soft landing spacecraft on the surface of the asteroid. Planting took place in 15:01:52, completing the path of the machine 3, 2 billion kilometers. Vertical velocity was less than four miles per hour.



NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft was originally the name of Spacecraft, was later named in honor of the deceased in a car crash in 1997, American geologist Eugene Shoemaker a >. He founded a new direction in science - astrogeology. The remains of the scientist were buried on the moon, in the "Shoemaker crater».





Source: geektimes.ru/post/245868/