This came as a surprise to Andrew Cheng, the programme's head scientist at Johns Hopkins.

ECONOMIST: Eros

This relative smoothness suggests the area's relative youth compared to other parts of the asteroid, project scientist Andrew Cheng said.

CNN: NASA unveils quartet of asteroid movies

Andrew Cheng, project scientist for the Eros probe NEAR-Shoemaker, said the big question facing commercial space ventures remains what it will cost to get their equipment off Earth.

CNN: 'Fireflies' to scope out space rocks for mining