ENCOUNTER STRATEGY FOR A FLYBY OF THE MAIN-BELT ASTEROID 253-MATHILDE

The NEAR trajectory provides the opportunity for a close flyby of the main-belt asteroid 253 Mathilde en route to the final destination, 433 Eros. Major science objectives include high-resolution imaging, a det ermination of the asteroid's mass, and a search for any intrinsic magn etic field. To achieve these objectives, the spacecraft must be target ed to within 1200 km of the asteroid and the camera pointed at the tar get near closest approach. We describe the details of the optical navi gation and spacecraft pointing strategies that will be executed to ach ieve these goals.