Aster › Space program › 433 Eros
433 Eros
Position on the route: 9/130 · level needed 30 · journey (Mk0 engine) 5.1 h
By the numbers
| Size | 34 × 11 × 11 km |
|---|---|
| Year | 1.76 years |
| Semi-major axis | 1.46 AU |
| Discovered | 1898 |
The story
Eros was the first near-Earth asteroid found, in 1898. NEAR Shoemaker went into orbit around it in 2000: the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid. At the end of the mission the team tried a long shot and set it down on 12 February 2001; a craft not built to land became the first to land on an asteroid.
The surface is covered in craters, boulders and thin ‘regolith ponds’; gravity is so weak that fine dust almost flows. A brick-shaped, silicate-and-iron-nickel-rich body: the model ‘S-type’ asteroid for future mining.
Missions
- NEAR Shoemaker (NASA, 1996–2001): orbit and landing
- Hayabusa (2005): the next asteroid landing
Colony note
A mining outpost; almost no gravity. Iron, nickel and platinum-group metals.
What probes bring back
- NEAR Shoemaker landed on Eros on 12 February 2001: the first soft landing on an asteroid (it was not designed as a lander).
- About 34 × 11 × 11 km with very weak gravity; ponds of regolith have made flat floors.