MISSION OPERATIONS:

We’ve had another good week.

The NEAR satellite continued to operate nominally during its first week in orbit around the asteroid
Eros. NEAR has been in Operational Mode with Flight Computer #1 and Attitude Interface Unit #2 in
control. The MSI, NIS, and MAG instruments remained “ON” during this week. S/C attitude pointing
continues to alternate between Eros nadir proximity pointing, Earth pointing, and Sun pointing as
required to conduct Eros orbital operations.

Since orbit insertion, NEAR has been in a 321km x 366km orbit around Eros. The first Orbit
Correction Maneuver (OCM 1) was conducted on February 24 at 12:00 p.m. EST. Initial review of
accelerometer and Doppler data indicates the orbital maneuver was successful. OCM 1 has placed
NEAR into a 366km x 200km transfer orbit.

Science activities conducted this week, post orbit insertion, included Eros “high altitude” observations
with the MSI, NIS, and MAG instruments. These have included a combination of the following activities
on a daily basis:

– Navigation optical navigation

– MSI/NIS Daily Global observations
– MSI/NIS Global Morphology observations
– MSI Star Calibrations

All of the above instrument activities executed successfully onboard the NEAR spacecraft.

In addition, on February 22nd, the XGRS instrument was turned back on. Its high voltage was turned
on February 23rd.

Upcoming Spacecraft Activities:

In addition to regular Eros tracking and optical navigation, the following are operationally significant
activities planned: Please consult NEAR science timelines for more details regarding upcoming science
activities.

Feb 25 NLR instrument turn on
Mar 3 1800 UTC Eros Orbit Correction Maneuver 2