NEAR Resurrection: Bringing Back the Dead Spacecraft

By: Leonard David
space.com
23 May 2002

A death-defying comeback might be in store for NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft. The probe is now muted, quietly resting in a no-shout zone on the surface of asteroid 433 Eros.

An attempt to reconnect with NEAR may occur at year's end as the rocky world and Earth move into close proximity and sunlight washes over the spacecraft's energizing solar panels.

The stab-in-the dark at re-establishing radio contact with NEAR could be done though NASA's Deep Space Network managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Those who worked on the NEAR project hope it can be revived. But it's a long shot, they quickly add.

Super-cold temperatures may have done in the electronics aboard the spacecraft. On the other hand, turning on NEAR would be coup de grace of cosmic proportion. A fit-and-fiddle spacecraft would give engineers confidence in future hardware designs - equipment that can take a beating but keep on keeping on.

Full story here:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/near_reboot_020523.html