NEAR's Thrusters

Thrusters

The 100-lb thruster on the NEAR spacecraft is the main thruster used for large changes in velocity, such as the mid-course correction to the trajectory and the deceleration to orbit around Eros.

There are four 5-lb thrusters on the NEAR spacecraft that will be used as back-ups to the main 100-lb. thruster, and for lesser maneuvers when making small changes to the spacecraft's position.

There will also be seven 1-lb. thrusters onboard used to turn the spacecraft to different directions.

This is one of the smaller thrusters attached to the base of the spacecraft.

The cone on the front panel is the large 100-lb thruster. You can see one of the smaller thrusters (from the previous picture) attached to the bottom left of the spacecraft.

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Contact Steve Bowser (slbowser@umd5.umd.edu) or
Joy Maloney (jmaloney@umd5.umd.edu) for further information.