Scientific payload and experiments thumb|right|Diagram showing location of NEAR science instruments. The science payload includes: The Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI), designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, provided visible images of the asteroid's surface. The NEAR IR Spectrograph (NIS) covers a 0.8 to 2.6-micrometer spectral range in 62 bins. A three-axis fluxgate magnetometer supplied by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center can measure the asteroid's magnetic field from DC to 10 Hz. The X-ray/Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (XGRS) is two instruments. The x-ray spectrometer measures x-ray fluorescence on the asteroid excited by solar flare x-rays. The gamma-ray spectrometer is a NaI scintillator with an active BGO shield. The laser rangefinder (NLR) is a direct-detection single-pulse rangefinder.
Scientific payload and experiments thumb|right|Diagram showing location of NEAR science instruments. The science payload includes: The Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI), designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory provided visible images of the asteroid's surface. The NEAR IR Spectrograph (NIS) covers a 0.8 to 2.6-micrometer spectral range in 62 bins. A three-axis fluxgate magnetometer supplied by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center can measure the asteroid's magnetic field from DC to 10 Hz. The X-ray/Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (XGRS) is two instruments. The x-ray spectrometer measures x-ray fluorescence on the asteroid excited by solar flare x-rays. The gamma-ray spectrometer is a NaI scintillator with an active BGO shield. The laser rangefinder (NLR) is a direct-detection single-pulse rangefinder.