Asteroid Eros Reconstructed
Orbiting the Sun between Mars and Earth , asteroid 433 Eros was visited by the robot spacecraft NEAR-Shoemaker in 2000 February. High-resolution surface measurements made by NEAR 's Laser Rangefinder ( NLR ) have been combined into the above visualization based on the derived 3D model of the tumbling space rock . NEAR allowed scientists to discover that Eros is a single solid body, that its composition is nearly uniform, and that it formed during the early years of our Solar System . Mysteries remain, however, including why some rocks on the surface have disintegrated. On 2001 February 12, the NEAR mission drew to a dramatic close as it was crash landed onto the asteroid's surface , surviving well enough to return an analysis of the composition of the surface regolith . Unless re-awakened by NASA , NEAR will likely remain on the asteroid for billions of years as a monument to human ingenuity at the turn of the third millennium .