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Title: Asteroid Rendezvous : NEAR Shoemaker's Adventures at Eros by Jim Bell, Jacqueline Mitton ISBN: 0-521-81360-3 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Excellent Account of a Unique Space Science Mission
Comment: The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission completed in 2001 was the first to orbit and eventually land on an asteroid. That fact makes it significant. The fact that the mission was an unqualified success-when a success for NASA was truly critical in the aftermath of two successive failures with Mars probes in 1999-makes it rare. The fact that it was conducted by the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory over the protests of the mighty Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA's traditional solar system exploration center, makes it politically sensitive. The fact that the NEAR team performed the mission on the cheap, spending less than $150 million, makes it unprecedented for deep space probes. The fact that it returned thousands of images, spectra, and other measurements about the large near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros makes it scientifically relevant.
After a long gestation period, NEAR began its voyage to Eros on 17 February 1996, the first mission flown under NASA's new Discovery program, a series of low-cost planetary science projects. NEAR finally moved into orbit around Eros on 14 February 2000, roughly a year later than intended.
Throughout 2000, NEAR explored Eros offering spectacular pictures and a rich harvest of spectroscopy data. At the conclusion of the mission, on 12 February 2001, the mission team landed it on the surface of Eros. Although the NEAR spacecraft was not designed to survive landing, its instruments remained operational until 1 March 2001.
In "Asteroid Rendezvous" several of the scientists and engineers who conducted the NEAR mission describe it in their own words from initial concept studies through development, launch, and cruise operations. The book is liberally illustrated throughout with both stunning images from the mission and explanatory diagrams.
"Asteroid Rendezvous" is long on description and celebration and short on analysis and critical examination. Even so, it is a very interesting book, and a fine start in documenting the history of this important mission. It will be of interest to amateur astronomers and general readers who want to know about the American space program. It will serve as grist for future serious historical studies of planetary exploration.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very Good Book About A Great Space Mission
Comment: The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission was the first of NASA's "Faster, Better Cheaper" spacecraft. Its primary mission was to orbit the asteroid 433 Eros, thereby becoming the first robotic explorer to orbit and eventually land on an asteroid. On the journey to Eros, NEAR flew by the main-belt asteroid Mathilde as well as our home planet, the Earth and returned dozens of pictures; however, the journey to Eros was almost lost when a software error caused the main engine to shut down prematurely. Due to the efforts the engineers and scientists supporting this project, the space probe was saved and the NEAR mission became one of the most successful NASA missions. In the end, the mission returned with hundreds of thousands of images, spectra, and other measurements about the large near-Earth asteroid Eros.
In this book, the author, Jim Bell, a planetary scientist and professor at Cornell, has assembled nine different articles about various aspects of this mission into one concise book about all aspects of this specular mission. The book opens with a chapter providing an overview of Eros and then moves into two chapters dedicated to the spacecraft and its mission, and its trip to Eros, from launch to rendezvous. The remaining chapters cover the different discovers made by the NEAR spacecraft, such as its overall landscape, its history, and several on its geology. There is also one chapter, which explains the photography planning, and eventual execution of this plan.
In general, I did not find the book to be very technical and there is a glossary of terms to help the layman as well as numerous photographs, figures and graphs are found throughout the book to further explain a given topic.
If you are interested in planetary exploration or the space program in general, this book would an excellent addition to your library.
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Title: Mission to Saturn: Cassini and the Huygens Probe (Springer-Praxis Books in Astronomy and Space Sciences) by David M. Harland ISBN: 1852336560 Publisher: Praxis Pr Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Voyager's Grand Tour: To the Outer Planets and Beyond (Smithsonian History of Aviation and Spaceflight Series) by Henry C. Dethloff, Ronald A. Schorn ISBN: 1588341240 Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: A Traveler's Guide to Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet by William K. Hartmann ISBN: 0761126066 Publisher: Workman Publishing Company Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Lifting Titan's Veil : Exploring the Giant Moon of Saturn by Ralph Lorenz, Jacqueline Mitton ISBN: 0521793483 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 15 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Beyond Pluto by John Davies ISBN: 0521800196 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 23 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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