NEAR Shoemaker Weekly Report 15 Dec 2000

MISSION OPERATIONS:

NEAR Shoemaker has re-entered a 35 km circular orbit. Orbit Correction
Maneuver 20 (OCM 20) successfully executed this past Wednesday, December 13
@ 20:15 UTC, transitioning the spacecraft from the 200 km x 35 km transfer
orbit, entered less that a week ago, into the 35 km circular orbit. While
in this low altitude orbit, the X-Ray / Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (XGRS) will
be the prime instrument, having authority to specify spacecraft instrument
suite pointing. The spacecraft will remain in this orbit until January 24,
when Orbit Correction Maneuver 21 (OCM 21) will initiate the Close Flyby
sequence. While in the 35 km orbit, two propulsive Momentum Correction
Maneuvers (MCM) are scheduled to manage accumulated system momentum.

Mission Operations attention has shifted to the January Close Flyby and End
of Mission activities.

The spacecraft subsystem configuration has not changed during this reporting
period.

Except for the NIS, science activities conducted this week included Eros
observations by the full instrument suite: MSI, MAG, XGRS and NLR. 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:

Jan 24 Eros Orbit Correction Maneuver 21 (35 km x 21 km elliptical
orbit)

Jan 28 Eros Orbit Correction Maneuver 22 (35 km x 19 km elliptical
orbit)

Jan 28 Eros Orbit Correction Maneuver 23 (35 km orbit
circularization)