What is the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission?

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission was the first launch in NASAs Discovery program and the first in-depth study of an asteroid. The NEAR mission was managed by The Johns Hopkins Unive rsity Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) in Laurel, Maryland, which also designed and built the spacecraft.

In March 2000 the satellite was renamed NEAR Shoemaker to honor Dr. Eugene M. Shoemaker, the legendary geologist who influenced decades of research on the role of asteroids and comets in shaping the planets. NEAR Shoemaker was launched on February 17, 1996 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. On June 27, 1997, NEAR Shoemaker flew within 753 miles of asteroid 253 Mathilde, obtaining the first images of a C-class asteroid. A deep-space maneuver then took NEAR Shoemaker back to Earth for a slingshot gravity assist on January 23, 1998, that put the spacecraft on the right trajectory for an encounter with asteroid 433 Eros. On December 23, 1998, after an aborted attempt to orbit Eros, NEAR Shoemaker flew within 2,400 miles of the asteroid. The spacecraft had a successful rendezvous with Eros on February 14, 2000, beginning a yearlong orbit study.

The NEAR mission team devised a spectacular finish to the orbit at Eros the first-ever spacecraft landing on an asteroid. On February 12, 2001, NEAR Shoemaker made a gentle, picture-perfect landing on the tips of two solar panels and the bottom edge of its body. Then, to much amazement, the craft continued to operate and send signals back to Earth. For two weeks the team gathered the first scientific readings from an asteroids surface, adding to the legacy of a mission that collected 10 times more data than planned. Visit the NEAR mission Web site and research the meaning of the bolded terms in the paragraphs above. The Web site is located at: http://near.jhuapl.edu From the information provided on the Web site, write an outline of each step in the NEAR Shoemaker spacecrafts exploration of the solar system from launch in 1996 to its rendezvous and eventual landing on Eros. Use this outline to prepare an oral report on NEAR Shoemakers mission. From the http://near.jhuapl.edu/Education/model.html Web site, print out the template for constructing a scale model of the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft as shown below.

Make a transparency of the scale diagram below, showing where the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft explored. Project the transparency onto the blackboard while you use your NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft paper model and your written research outline of the mission when speaking to your classmates.

Image from NASA http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level1/asteroids.html