Catalog Page for PIA18175

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PIA18175: Magellan Orbit (Artist's Concept)

An artist's concept of the Magellan spacecraft making a radar map of Venus. The spacecraft was commanded to plunge into Venus' atmosphere in 1994 as part of a final experiment to gather atmospheric data.

Mission:	Magellan
Spacecraft:	Magellan
Product Size:	818 x 615 pixels (w x h)
Produced By:	JPL
Full-Res TIFF:	PIA18175.tif (1.51 MB)
Full-Res JPEG:	PIA18175.jpg (84.03 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

An artist's concept of the Magellan spacecraft making a radar map of Venus.

Magellan mapped 98 percent of Venus' surface at a resolution of 100 to 150 meters (about the length of a football or soccer field), using synthetic aperture radar, a technique that simulates the use of a much larger radar antenna. It found that 85 percent of the surface is covered with volcanic flows and showed evidence of tectonic movement, turbulent surface winds, lava channels and pancake-shaped domes. Magellan also produced high-resolution gravity data for 95 percent of the planet and tested a new maneuvering technique called aerobraking, using atmospheric drag to adjust its orbit.

The spacecraft was commanded to plunge into Venus' atmosphere in 1994 as part of a final experiment to gather atmospheric data.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:

1990-08-10