Asteroid Eros Reconstructed . ... Credit: NEAR , JHUAPL , NASA Explanation: Orbiting the Sun between Mars and Earth , asteroid 433 Eros was visited by the robot spacecraft NEAR-Shoemaker in 2000 February. ... 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 . ...