The Near Ground System: Efficient Mission Command and Control

The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission is designed to place a spacecraft in orbit about the near-Earth asteroid Eros in January 1999. The February 17, 1996 launch was the first in the Discovery series of small planetary spacecraft missions. Designed in keeping with the intent of the Discovery program to reduce development and mission operations costs for planetary missions. The ground system command and control architecture consists of a single, flexible network, used commonly and simultaneously for Integration and Test (I&T) operations, launch operations, and Mission Operations. After a 27 month mission development program, NEAR Spacecraft Operations are conducted from the Mission Control Center at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Radio contact with the spacecraft is via NASA's Deep Space Network, operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.