Investigation Information
IDENTIFIER urn:nasa:pds:context:investigation:mission.near_earth_asteroid_rendezvous::1.2
NAME NEAR EARTH ASTEROID RENDEZVOUS
TYPE Mission
DESCRIPTION 
The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission to the near-earth asteroid 433 Eros 
            was launched in Feb. 1996 and carried out Eros orbital operations from Feb. 2000 
            through Feb. 2001. It acquired the first comprehensive, spatially resolved 
            measurements of the geomorphology, reflectance spectral properties, and shape of an 
            asteroid, and X-ray and gamma-ray spectral measurements of elemental abundances from 
            orbit and the surface. The ambient magnetic field in the vicinity of Eros was also 
            measured. On the way to Eros, the spacecraft also performed a flyby of the asteroid 
            253 Mathilde in June 1997, obtaining image data and a mass determination.
START DATE 1996-02-17T12:00:00.000Z
STOP DATE 2001-02-28T12:00:00.000Z
REFERENCES Cheng, A.F., A. Santo, K. Heeres, J. Landshof, R. Farquhar, et al., Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous: Mission Overview, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 102, pp. 23695-23708, 1997.

Cheng, A.F., R.W. Farquhar, and A.G. Santo, NEAR Overview, Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Vol. 19, pp. 95-106, 1998.

Farquhar, R.W., D. Dunham, and J. McAdams, NEAR Mission Overview and Trajectory Design, Journal of Astronautical Science, Vol. 43, pp. 353-371, 1995.

Landshof, J.A., and A.F. Cheng, NEAR Mission and Science Operations at Eros, Journal of Astronautical Science, Vol. 43, p. 477, 1995.

Santo, A.G., S.C. Lee, and R.E. Gold, NEAR Spacecraft and Instrumentation, The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 373-397, October-December 1995.

Yeomans, D.K., Asteroid 433 Eros: The Target Body of the NEAR Mission, Journal of Astronautical Sciences, Vol. 43, p. 417, 1995.