The landing of the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft on asteroid 433 Eros

Veverka, J.; Farquhar, B.; Robinson, M. S.; Thomas, P. C.; Murchie, S. L.; Harch, A.; Antreasian, P. G.; Chesley, Steven R.; Miller, James; Owen, W. M.; Williams, Brian; Yeomans, Donald K.; Dunham, David; Heyler, Gene A.; Holdridge, Mark E.; Nelson, Robert L.; Whittenburg, Karl; Ray, J. C.; Carcich, B.; Cheng, A. F.; Chapman, C. R.; Bell, James F.; Bell, Maureen; Bussey, B.; Clark, B. E.; Domingue, D. L.; Gaffey, M. J.; Hawkins, E.; Izenberg, N. R.; Joseph, J.; Kirk, Randolph L.; Lucey, P. G.; Malin, M. C.; McFadden, L. A.; Merline, W. J.; Peterson, C.; Prockter, L. M.; Warren, J.; Wellnitz, D. D.

doi:10.1038/35096507

Cited by 201 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The NLR range results were able to compare and contrast the roughness of smooth and rough regions visible in the images to the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. During the descent to the surface, NEAR Shoemaker obtained images with resolutions of up to 1 cm per pixel, revealing local differences in surface texture (Veverka et al 2001). The landing area was generally blocky but with smooth regions in between, and, in some cases, the blocks were partially buried by finer regolith.…”

Section: Asteroid (433) Erosmentioning

confidence: 99%

The surface roughness of (433) Eros as measured by thermal-infrared beaming

Rozitis

2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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In planetary science, surface roughness is regarded to be a measure of surface irregularity at small spatial scales, and causes the thermal-infrared beaming effect (i.e. re-radiation of absorbed sunlight back towards to the Sun). Typically, surface roughness exhibits a degeneracy with thermal inertia when thermophysical models are fitted to disc-integrated thermal-infrared observations of asteroids because of this effect. In this work, it is demonstrated how surface roughness can be constrained for near-Earth asteroid (433) Eros (i.e. the target of NASA's NEAR Shoemaker mission) when using the Advanced Thermophysical Model with thermal-infrared observations taken during an "almost poleon" illumination and viewing geometry. It is found that the surface roughness of (433) Eros is characterised by an RMS slope of 38 ± 8° at the 0.5-cm spatial scale associated with its thermalinfrared beaming effect. This is slightly greater than the RMS slope of 25 ± 5° implied by the NEAR Shoemaker laser ranging results when extrapolated to this spatial scale, and indicates that other surface shaping processes might operate, in addition to collisions and gravity, at spatial scales under one metre in order to make asteroid surfaces rougher. For other high obliquity asteroids observed during "pole-on" illumination conditions, the thermal-infrared beaming effect allows surface roughness to be constrained when the sub-solar latitude is greater than 60°, and if the asteroids are observed at phase angles of less than 40°. They will likely exhibit NEATM beaming parameters that are lower than expected for a typical asteroid at all phase angles up to 100°.

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Section: Asteroid (433) Erosmentioning

confidence: 99%

The surface roughness of (433) Eros as measured by thermal-infrared beaming

Rozitis

2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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“…Impact processes are considered to be among the fundamental agents causing the modification of surface geological features of airless bodies. They include impact cratering (e.g., Melosh, 1989 ), regolith formation (e.g., Melosh, 1989 ), regolith mixing, and migration (e.g., Robinson et al, 2001;Veverka et al, 2001;Miyamoto et al, 2007 ). In addition, microscopic meteoroid impacts contribute to changes in the optical properties, chemical composition, and structures of regolith surface material ( Noguchi et al, 2011;Harries and Langenhorst, 2014;Keller and Berger, 2014;Noguchi et al, 2014;Thompson et al, 2014;Bonal et al, 2015;Matsumoto et al, 2015;Harries et al, 2016;Matsumoto et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population characteristics of submicrometer-sized craters on regolith particles from asteroid Itokawa

Matsumoto

Hasegawa

Nakao

et al. 2018

Icarus

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a b s t r a c tWe investigated impact crater structures on regolith particles from asteroid Itokawa using scanning electron microscopy. We observed the surfaces of 51 Itokawa particles, ranging from 15 μm to 240 μm in size. Craters with average diameters ranging from 10 nm to 2.8 μm were identified on 13 Itokawa particles larger than 80 μm. We examined the abundance, spatial distribution, and morphology of approximately 900 craters on six Itokawa particles. Craters with sizes in excess of 200 nm are widely dispersed, with spatial densities from 2.6 μm 2 to 4.5 μm 2 ; a fraction of the craters was locally concentrated with a density of 0.1 μm 2 . The fractal dimension of the cumulative crater diameters ranges from 1.3 to 2.3. Craters of several tens of nanometers in diameter exhibit pit and surrounding rim structures. Craters of more than 100 nm in diameter commonly have melted residue at their bottom. These morphologies are similar to those of submicrometer-sized craters on lunar regolith. We estimated the impactor flux on Itokawa regolith-forming craters, assuming that the craters were accumulated during direct exposure to the space environment for 10 2 to 10 4 yr. The range of impactor flux onto Itokawa particles is estimated to be at least one order of magnitude higher than the interplanetary dust flux and comparable to the secondary impact flux on the Moon. This indicates that secondary ejecta impacts are probably the dominant cratering process in the submicrometer range on Itokawa regolith particles, as well as on the lunar surface. We demonstrate that secondary submicrometer craters can be produced anywhere in centimeter-to meter-sized depressions on Itokawa's surface through primary interplanetary dust impacts. If the surface unevenness on centimeter to meter scales is a significant factor determining the abundance of submicrometer secondary cratering, the secondary impact flux could be independent of the overall shapes or sizes of celestial bodies, and the secondary impact flux could have similar values on Itokawa and the Moon.

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“…However, even though the scientific community has a better understanding of NEO physical properties and compositions based on the data from these missions, many questions remain unanswered. For example, in spite of having several months' worth of remote sensing data from both spacecraft, as well as data from one landing by NEAR Shoemaker (Veverka et al 2001) and two touchdowns by Hayabusa , investigators have thus far been unable to identify the exact composition and internal structure of these asteroids. Therefore, even though both missions are considered to have achieved almost all of their scientific goals, they were limited by the capabilities of their spacecraft.…”

Section: Robotic Missions To Neosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientific exploration of near‐Earth objects via the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle

Abell

Korsmeyer

Landis

et al. 2009

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

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available online at http://meteoritics.org (CEV) to a near-Earth object (NEO). The ideal mission profile would involve two or three astronauts on a 90 to 180 day flight, which would include a 7 to 14 day stay for proximity operations at the target NEO. This mission would be the first human expedition to an interplanetary body beyond the EarthMoon system and would prove useful for testing technologies required for human missions to Mars and other solar system destinations. Piloted missions to NEOs using the CEV would undoubtedly provide a great deal of technical and engineering data on spacecraft operations for future human space exploration while conducting in-depth scientific investigations of these primitive objects. The main scientific advantage of sending piloted missions to NEOs would be the flexibility of the crew to perform tasks and to adapt to situations in real time. A crewed vehicle would be able to test several different sample collection techniques and target specific areas of interest via extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) more efficiently than robotic spacecraft. Such capabilities greatly enhance the scientific return from these missions to NEOs, destinations vital to understanding the evolution and thermal histories of primitive bodies during the formation of the early solar system. Data collected from these missions would help constrain the suite of materials possibly delivered to the early Earth, and would identify potential source regions from which NEOs originate. In addition, the resulting scientific investigations would refine designs for future extraterrestrial resource extraction and utilization, and assist in the development of hazard mitigation techniques for planetary defense. Scientific exploration of near-Earth objects via the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle

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The landing of the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft on asteroid 433 Eros

Cited by 201 publications

References 11 publications

The surface roughness of (433) Eros as measured by thermal-infrared beaming

The surface roughness of (433) Eros as measured by thermal-infrared beaming

Population characteristics of submicrometer-sized craters on regolith particles from asteroid Itokawa

Scientific exploration of near‐Earth objects via the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle

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