Spacecraft lands on Asteroid
February 22nd 2009 08:18
Category: No Category
Eros, showing evidenced of large numbers of superimposed impact craters
Landing a spacecraft on an asteroid is no mean feat nevertheless this was accomplished in 2001 the NEAR spacecraft was successfully inserted into orbit around 433 Eros. This was the first time that an artificial satellite from earth has orbited an asteroid.
Although the spacecraft had no landing gear it made a smooth landing on the asteroid.
The spacecraft continued sending signals even after touchdown.
One of the final images taken during the decent stage
The gamble paid off a multitude of things could have gone wrong things like the engines misfiring or the camera pointing the wrong direction fortunately everything went to plan. The spacecraft took some great images showing deep crater is and ancient boulders buried under layers of fine dust. Eros is one of our closest visitors from within our solar system.
this picture taken from an altitude of of 210 miles (330 km) above the surface
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Camera Sense
Hi S.L.
Asteroids supporting a viable atmosphere is unlikely the reason is that asteroids don’t have sufficient mass or gravity to hold an atmosphere in place.