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| | | | | | | From Eros with love
Last image of asteroid Eros at 120 m
13 February 2001
On 12 February 2001, at 21:02 UT (22:02 Central European Time) NASA's NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft travelled its last few metres, cruising down to the surface of Eros at a gentle 1.9 metres per second, finally coming to rest after its 3200 million kilometre journey - and delivering scientists an early Valentine present in the form of images of the asteroid's surface.
The last image snapped by NEAR Shoemaker was a mere 120 metres from the asteroid's surface and covered a 6-metre area. As NEAR Shoemaker touched down it began sending a beacon, assuring the team that the small spacecraft had landed gently.
| | NEAR Shoemaker image of Eros at 700 m | |
The signal was identified by radar science data, and about an hour later was locked onto by NASA's Deep Space Network antennas, which will monitor the spacecraft.
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| | Related news NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft to land on asteroid ErosRelated links LIVE broadcast on NEAR pageNEAR (mirror site)Images and informationNEAR image of the day archiveESA's Rosetta website
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