NEAR Mission Status Report 04-14-2000

MISSION OPERATIONS:
 
NEAR Shoemaker continued to operate nominally this past week in orbit around the asteroid 433 Eros.  NEAR Shoemaker remained in Operational Mode with Flight Computer #1 and Attitude Interface Unit #2 in control of spacecraft attitude.  The spacecraft instrument suite remained "ON" and operational this week.
 
NEAR Shoemaker is presently in a nominal 100 km circular orbit around Eros. The spacecraft began the week in a 200 km x 100 km transfer orbit that was circularized at 100 km during Orbit Correction Maneuver 4 (OCM 4).  This maneuver was performed on April 11, 2000 at 21:20 UTC.  NEAR Shoemaker will remain in the 100 km circular orbit conducting Science observations until April 22, 2000 at 17:30 UTC when Orbit Correction Maneuver 5 (OCM 5) will initiate a 100 km x 50 km transfer orbit.  As OCM 5 is refined, this burn time could move as much as +/- 1 hour.
 
Preparations and testing of OCM 5, which will place NEAR Shoemaker in a 100 km x 50 km transfer orbit, will begin next week.  Similar to previous propulsive events, final burn parameters and a timing update will be loaded to the spacecraft when they become available late next week.
 
Problems with the Multispectral Imager (MSI) Data Processing Unit (DPU) flight application software have been corrected by the software patch that was successfully loaded March 30, 2000.  During this past week, the MSI has performed flawlessly.
 
Science activities conducted this week included Eros observations by the full instrument suite: MSI, NIS, MAG, NLR and XGRS.  Please consult science timelines for more details.
 
Upcoming Spacecraft Activities:
 
In addition to regular Eros Science and Optical Navigation, the following are operationally significant activities planned for the NEAR Shoemaker mission operation:
 
April 22 Eros Orbit Correction Maneuver 5
  (100 km  x  50 km transfer orbit)
 
April 30 Eros Orbit Correction Maneuver 6
  (50 km orbit circularization)