LAUREL, Md. -- What comes down, may go back up again.
Valentine's Day is usually not a good time to seek a trial separation. But that's exactly what NEAR mission scientists are hoping for on Wednesday, February 14.
| Pictures of the Landing! |
| Browse through these stunning images of the NEAR spacecraft"s descent to Asteroid Eros. |
Engineers at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) are looking at the prospects of re-launching the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft from the surface of Asteroid Eros. A command is already built into the probe as it rests upon the space rocks surface.
The liftoff from the asteroid is on tap for February 14, roughly 2:00 p.m. EST (19:00 GMT), according to David Dunham, NEARs mission designer at APL.
The launch from Eros would be after nine rotations of the asteroid following its Monday, February 12, landing, Dunham said.
"Since weve got a lock on the signal, its got to be pretty much in the right position" for the liftoff, said Dunham.
Dunham said the probe may rise upwards well over 1,300 feet (400 meters) above Eros. "It could sit in the dirt and wiggle a little bit before liftoff. These are weaker thrusters on the spacecraft," he said.
Some thought has been given to sequencing a double boost of thrust from the asteroid, hurtling it perhaps as high as 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) above the asteroid.
Dunham said that if the camera has not been damaged in the first landing, more images above the asteroid could be taken. Actual pictures of the first landing spot on Eros are not likely to come into view, he said.
The spacecraft would then settle down to a new landing spot.
"The whole thing is just more icing on the cake," Dunham said.
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