- (CNN) -- Space scientists began the daunting
task Thursday of interpreting hundreds of pictures taken by a robotic space
probe that completed its planned flyby of the asteroid Eros on Wednesday.
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- The images of the giant space rock will
provide scientists with valuable information on the size, shape and surface
characteristics of Eros and whether it has any moons, officials said.
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- The Web site for the Near Earth Asteroid
Rendezvous started posting the images on Thursday as they were being processed.
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- A montage of the first nine images shows
Eros completing nearly half a rotation. The smallest resolved detail is
approximately 1650 feet (500 meters) across.
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- Scientists were still trying to determine
why they lost contact with the spacecraft for 27 hours and why it shut
itself down during a series of engine firings Sunday that would have put
it on course to reach Eros next month.
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- Within hours, mission controllers were
able to program an alternate command sequence that put the spacecraft
on a trajectory about 2,500 miles (4,100 km) from the surface of the
asteroid.
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- However, plans to orbit Eros -- the first
such attempt in history -- were postponed, possibly until spring.
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- "While the engine burn abort was
unfortunate, we still expect to accomplish the rendezvous objectives,"
said Mission Manager Robert W. Farquhar of the Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory. "We expect that the later rendezvous
date will not diminish the overall science return."
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- The scientists, working around the clock,
were exhausted but jubilant when they found NEAR -- more than 200 million
miles (320 million km) from Earth, lab spokeswoman Helen Worth said
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- "I saw people smile who I hadn't
seen smile for 24 hours," she said.
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- NEAR is one of the first robot crafts
built through a National Aeronautics and Space Administration program that
emphasizes less expensive and more effective ways of exploring the universe.
It cost $129 million to build, and the entire mission so far has stayed
within its planned budget of $211.5 million.
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- Launched in February 1996, NEAR is to
spend almost a year orbiting within 9 miles (15 km) of the surface of
the potato- shaped asteroid 25 miles (40 km) by 9 miles (15 km) by 8.8
miles (14 km) in size.
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- If the spacecraft succeeds in orbiting
Eros, it may land on its surface. The data it collects could help scientists
learn how to divert an asteroid from collision with Earth.
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- http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9812/24/near.update.02/
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