February 13, 2016 at 14:1615 years of the first contact of the Earth's apparatus with an asteroid
On February 14, 2000, the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft entered the orbit of the asteroid Eros, and a year later it sat on its surface and transmitted data to Earth for another two weeks. On a journey that took several years, NEAR Shoemaker took 500 pictures of the asteroid Matilda and photographed the Earth from the side of Antarctica.
The device was launched on February 17, 1996 from Cape Canaveral on the Delta-2 launch vehicle. On June 26 and 27, 1997, the device transmitted five hundred images of the asteroid Matilda to Earth. This photo was taken from a distance of 1800 kilometers from the asteroid, sunlight falls on it from the top right. The image scale is 230 meters per pixel. The asteroid is very dark, it reflects only 4% of the surface, but the device was able to photograph it using a multispectral camera.
This image of Matilda is composed of four photographs taken from a distance of 2400 kilometers. We see a part measuring 59 by 47 kilometers.
Here we see three asteroids on the same scale - Matilda, Gaspra (named after the urban-type village in Crimea, where Leo Tolstoy spent many years) and Ida.
Asteroid from a distance of 1200 kilometers. At Matilda, at least five craters are more than 20 km in diameter, they occupy about 60% of the entire surface.
Images of Matilda from two angles.
After the passage of the asteroid Matilda, the spacecraft returned to Earth again to change the trajectory, where he took this photograph of the planet from the side of Antarctica.
The last time they tried to contact the device in December 2002. From the surface of the asteroid, NEAR Shoemaker transmitted data for two weeks.
The device was launched on February 17, 1996 from Cape Canaveral on the Delta-2 launch vehicle. On June 26 and 27, 1997, the device transmitted five hundred images of the asteroid Matilda to Earth. This photo was taken from a distance of 1800 kilometers from the asteroid, sunlight falls on it from the top right. The image scale is 230 meters per pixel. The asteroid is very dark, it reflects only 4% of the surface, but the device was able to photograph it using a multispectral camera.
This image of Matilda is composed of four photographs taken from a distance of 2400 kilometers. We see a part measuring 59 by 47 kilometers.
Here we see three asteroids on the same scale - Matilda, Gaspra (named after the urban-type village in Crimea, where Leo Tolstoy spent many years) and Ida.
Asteroid from a distance of 1200 kilometers. At Matilda, at least five craters are more than 20 km in diameter, they occupy about 60% of the entire surface.
Images of Matilda from two angles.
After the passage of the asteroid Matilda, the spacecraft returned to Earth again to change the trajectory, where he took this photograph of the planet from the side of Antarctica.
The last time they tried to contact the device in December 2002. From the surface of the asteroid, NEAR Shoemaker transmitted data for two weeks.