NASA gives NEAR a reprieve

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

By Miles O'Brien
CNN Space Correspondent

LAUREL, Maryland (CNN) -- NASA has a Valentine's Day gift for space buffs. The space agency announced 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 was to end officially on Wednesday. But NASA gave the NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) craft another 10 days to collect more readings about the space rock 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's instruments will be able to gather very detailed readings while the spacecraft sits on the surface of Eros.

NASA also will give the NEAR team access to its spacecraft-tracking Deep Space Network to receive a radio transmission from NEAR.

"It's sending back housekeeping data right now but we hope to get science data later this week," NEAR navigation chief Bobby Williams told reporters.

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

Since NEAR-Shoemaker landed, mission engineers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have looked 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.

But even if NASA were to continue to listen after the 10-day extention, the craft will gradually lose power and die after April when the south side of the asteroid returns to darkness.

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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Space probe swoops within 3 miles of asteroid
October 26, 2000
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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