EAGLEPICHER is there for NEAR's Unprecedented Landing

EaglePicher Technologies, LLC, Colorado Springs, Colorado, February 12, 2001. The Power Systems Department of EaglePicher Technologies, LLC (EPT) is celebrating the recent successful and unprecedented touchdown of NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft on the surface of the asteroid Eros, more than 196 million miles from Earth.

A nickel-cadmium battery built by EaglePicher's Power Systems Department, located in Colorado Springs, powers the NEAR spacecraft. The battery was built and delivered to the Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in 1995. APL built the NEAR spacecraft, which was launched in February of 1996.

The NEAR battery, which is considered small by spacecraft standards, has received a much more rigorous workout than originally called for by the mission. Due to a computer software glitch, which caused an erroneous engine firing, the spacecraft missed its first attempt to rendezvous with Eros, Adding another year to the mission. Finally, on Valentine's Day 2000, four years after launch, NEAR fired its engines, slowing the spacecraft to a speed of about one meter per second (2.2 mph) relative to Eros and allowing the asteroid's weak gravity to capture the spacecraft in a loose orbit about it. Over the past year, NEAR has returned a huge amount of scientific data including over 160,000 photos, covering Eros' 21-mile length and culmination with images of today's historical landing.

Rolan Farmer, Vice President and General Manager of the Colorado Springs facility stated, "EaglePicher has a tradition of building batteries that perform above and beyond design requirements." The EaglePicher batteries that powered the ill-fated Apollo 13 moon mission after the explosive failure of its power-generating fuel cell demonstrated this tradition most dramatically. Though the mission was aborted, the power from the EaglePicher batteries allowed a safe return of the three astronauts.

EaglePicher Technologies, LLC is the world's most diversified manufacturer of special purpose power systems for military, medical, telecommunications ad aerospace applications. Facilities located in Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas manufacture products ranging from high purity isotopic Boron compounds and semiconductors materials to advanced batteries, solar cell components and power systems for defense and aerospace industries.