A brief thruster burn late Tuesday, April 11, moved the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft into a lower, circular orbit around the asteroid Eros, project officials reported. The five-second thruster burn put the spacecraft into a 100-km (62-mi.) orbit; it had been in a 100 x 200 km elliptical orbit since a thruster burn on April 1. Another thruster burn on April 22 will put the spacecraft into a 100 x 50 km elliptical orbit, followed by another thruster burn on April 30 to circularize the orbit at 50 km. The 50 km orbit is considered the prime scientific orbit for NEAR, allowing the spacecraft's instruments to make the most detailed measurements of the shape, composition, and other characteristics of the near-Earth asteroid.

Visit the NEAR home page for more on the mission which features the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.

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