LISTSERV mailing list manager LISTSERV 16.0

Help for SF-LIT Archives


SF-LIT Archives

SF-LIT Archives


[email protected]


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

SF-LIT Home

SF-LIT Home

SF-LIT  February 2001

SF-LIT February 2001

Subject:

Update on asteroid landing

From:

Dennis Fischer <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Science Fiction and Fantasy Listserv <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 12 Feb 2001 15:07:13 -0800

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (75 lines)

NASA Spacecraft 'Lands' on Asteroid

The Shoemaker spacecraft made an unprecedented
"landing" today on an asteroid the size of the San
Fernando Valley, then bounced about 40 stories high
before settling down again, a JPL navigation engineer
said.
Jim Miller, the deputy navigation team chief, admitted
later he was somewhat surprised that the "stunt" could
be done.
"At the beginning (of the Near Earth Asteroid
Rendezvous project), when we started planning this, I
came out and said" the chances for success were about
one in 100, he said, but by today that was down to
50-50.
"I can't think of anyone that was really confident
that it was going to work," he said. "We were very
much surprised by how soft it landed."
Originally expected to come down on Valentine's Day,
the schoolbus-sized Shoemaker made impact on 433 Eros
two days--and a couple of minutes--early, and 800 feet
or so from where the engineers predicted. It bounced
about 100 meters--or 390 feet--high, he said.    ¸U
b…¹'o'?the spacecraft safely on Eros at about 12:02
(p.m.)," Miller said, "and it's continuing to
transmit." Engineers were hoping to re- establish the
ability to contact the unmanned spacecraft on the
asteroid about 196 million miles from Earth.
Because of the near-absence of gravity on the
asteroid, the spacecraft only weighed about 2 pounds
at impact--and was going about 5 mph.
"It more or less crashed on to the surface" of 433
Eros, Miller said, though engineers in Maryland fired
the spacecraft's retro-rockets four times as the
Shoemaker fell toward the asteroid's surface to slow
down the descent.
He said Shoemaker was sending back a picture when it
hit the surface.
Miller said he informed his colleagues at one point
that they could celebrate and applause broke out.
He said the spacecraft launched in 1996 had been
orbiting for about a year, and has sent back thousands
of pictures since then, including some today of the
crater-pocked and boulder-strewn asteroid.
The primary goal of the spacecraft's "controlled
descent" to the surface was to gather images of Eros.
Mission managers from the Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Md., brought the
spaceship in for the landing, firing its engines over
a four-hour period.
The spacecraft dropped out of an orbit some 22 miles
above 433 Eros and made its descent toward the
21-mile-long asteroid. On the way down, it recorded
images that should help scientists better understand
the asteroid's origins.
"We know that Eros is a solid body of uniform
composition, made of material that is probably older
than the Earth," said Andrew Cheng of the Applied
Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins, where the spacecraft was
built.
"But we also found many other things we didn't expect
to see and have questions we didn't know to ask at the
start of the mission."
Scientists are particularly interested in the
asteroid's "saddle" area, a 6-mile-wide depression
with patches of boulders, a relatively craterless
surface and patterns of grooves and ridges.



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35
a year!  http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

Advanced Options


Options

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password


Search Archives

Search Archives


Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe


Archives

November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000
December 1999
November 1999
October 1999
September 1999
August 1999
July 1999
June 1999
May 1999
April 1999
March 1999
February 1999
January 1999
December 1998
November 1998
October 1998
September 1998
August 1998
July 1998
June 1998
May 1998
April 1998
March 1998
February 1998
January 1998
December 1997
November 1997
October 1997
September 1997
August 1997
July 1997
June 1997
May 1997
April 1997
March 1997
February 1997
January 1997
December 1996
November 1996
October 1996
September 1996
August 1996
July 1996
June 1996
May 1996
April 1996
March 1996
February 1996
January 1996
December 1995
November 1995
October 1995
September 1995
August 1995
July 1995
June 1995
May 1995
April 1995
March 1995
February 1995
June 1996
May 1996
April 1996
March 1996
February 1996
January 1996
December 1995
November 1995
October 1995
September 1995
August 1995
July 1995
June 1995
May 1995
April 1995
March 1995
February 1995

ATOM RSS1 RSS2



LISTSERV.LOC.GOV

CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager