Decision expected on fate of NEAR

The last and closest image of asteroid Eros as the NEAR spacecraft touched down. The streaky lines at the bottom indicate loss of signal as the spacecraft touched down on the asteroid during transmission of this image.   VIDEO Check out NASA's movie simulation of NEAR-Shoemaker's risky descent to Eros 2.2 MB / 48.11 sec. / 320X240 QuickTime movie Please enable Javascript

Decision on encore flight to be announced Wednesday

By Miles O'Brien
CNN Space Correspondent

LAUREL, Maryland (CNN) -- NASA may have a Valentine's Day gift for space buffs. The space agency may announce Wednesday that it will keep monitoring NEAR-Shoemaker, the spacecraft that on Monday became the first manmade object to land on an asteroid.

The probe's five-year mission officially ends Wednesday. But sources told CNN on Tuesday that NASA will give NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) another week to collect more readings about Eros.

NEAR became the sweetheart spacecraft of space scientists by surviving its landing on Eros. The probe was designed to orbit, but not land on Eros, a 21-mile long asteroid named for the Greek god of love.

Scientists believe NEAR will continue to take remarkably accurate readings using a gamma ray. That data will be sent back to Earth using NASA's Deep Space Network.

Officials are also expected to announce at the Wednesday news conference -- scheduled for 1 p.m. EST -- that NEAR could take another short flight after the weeklong observation stint.

RESOURCES Web sites and recent CNN coverage of the mission     GALLERY View the best of Eros     MESSAGE BOARD Stargazing

Mission managers spent Tuesday in the control center at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory looking at the data stream from their 1,100-pound spacecraft 196 million miles away.

The information scientists have seen so far indicates NEAR-Shoemaker is generating plenty of power from its solar arrays.

The team is taking its time deciding on a possible liftoff. Once they fire the rocket thrusters, there is a strong likelihood they will not hear from the probe again. A second landing might very well damage the craft or knock its antenna or solar arrays out of alignment.

The asteroid landing idea was an afterthought to an already successful mission. NEAR-Shoemaker spent a year orbiting the asteroid EROS, beaming back 160,000 images. It was 10 times more data than scientists anticipated.

The hundred images sent back during the descent offer the closest look yet at an asteroid. The images are able to resolve objects as small as a centimeter.

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Asteroid orbiter marks halfway point in historic flight
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Summer lets orbiter see asteroid Eros in new light
June 27, 2000
Asteroid Eros resembles 'building blocks' of Earth
May 31, 2000
NASA unveils quartet of asteroid movies
April 28, 2000
NASA releases first 'flyover movie' of asteroid
March 24, 2000
'Stunning' images hint asteroid broke from a planet
February 17, 2000
Comet co-discoverer Eugene Shoemaker dies in crash
July 18, 1997

Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Mission
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Near Earth Object Program
NASA

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