EROS Journey to an Asteroid

The EROS Adventure,
Journey to an Asteroid
on CD-ROM

A journey of over a billion miles begins on February 14, 2000 from Cape Canaveral. On February 12, 2001, the little spaceship is landed on EROS, a near Earth Asteroid.

The image to the right is the closest view of EROS on February 12, 2001.

This CD has over 300 spectacular NASA and JPL photographs of the mission. These beautiful photos are truly riveting. It also includes a description of the space craft instrumentation, as well as the launch and analysis of the data received.

This mission was truely a unique and spectacular journey. It was a triumph of technology , NASA and JPL.

The closest view of EROS

This is the last image of asteroid 433 Eros received from NEAR Shoemaker. Taken from a range of 120 meters (394 feet), it measures 6 meters (20 feet) across. What we can see of the rock at the top of image measures 4 meters (12 feet) across. The streaky lines at the bottom indicate loss of signal as the spacecraft touched down on the asteroid during transmission of this image.

The 9 foot long, 1,775 pound NEAR spacecraft was launched in 1996. It was intended to be in orbit early in 1999, but actually arrived 13 months later than planned due to a series of problems. NEAR arrived at EROS February 14, 2000. It was launched on February 17, 1996 from Cape Canaveral.

To get there, the NEAR spacecraft traveled 1.875 billion miles because of the orbit it used. It was literally “slung” around Earth to give it a gravity boost. This allowed for the use of less fuel and a smaller rocket.

Eros measures 21 miles long, 8 miles wide and 8 miles thick. It is shaped like a ballerina slipper and rotates once every 5.27 hours. It is named after the Greek God of physical love, and is thought to be a fragment of a much larger asteroid probably shattered in a collision. It was the 433 rd asteroid to have its orbit calculated. It is also one of the largest near-Earth asteroids, one of a group of about 1,000 at least .62 mile in diameter.

The photo below is EROS taken on February 29, 2000.

EROS, An Asteroid

EROS, An Asteroid Adventure CD-ROM
ISBN: 1-893478-01-7
372 pages

Click below to order this spectacular CD-ROM for only $14.95

Take one of the most spectacular exciting journey in the 20th century!

Journey to EROS

Journey to EROS
A journey of over a billion miles