Magellan (spacecraft)
The Magellan spacecraft was a 1,035-kilogram (2,282 lb) robotic space probe launched by NASA of the United States, on May 4, 1989, to map the surface of Venus by using synthetic-aperture radar and to measure the planetary gravitational field.
Mission type
Venus orbiter
19969
4 years, 5 months, 8 days, 13 hours, 18 minutes
3,445 kilograms (7,595 lb)[1]
1,035 kilograms (2,282 lb)
about 1,030 watts
May 4, 1989, 18:47:00 UTC
Controlled entry into Venus
October 13, 1994, 10:05:00 UTC
10,470 kilometers (6,510 mi)
0.39177
295 kilometers (183 mi)
7,762 kilometers (4,823 mi)
85.5°
3.26 hours
August 10, 1990, 17:00:00 UTC
The Magellan probe was the first interplanetary mission to be launched from the Space Shuttle, the first one to use the Inertial Upper Stage booster, and the first spacecraft to test aerobraking as a method for circularizing its orbit. Magellan was the fifth successful NASA mission to Venus, and it ended an eleven-year gap in U.S. interplanetary probe launches.
Beginning in the late 1970s, scientists advocated for a radar mapping mission to Venus. They first sought to construct a spacecraft named the Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar (VOIR), but it became clear that the mission would be beyond the budget constraints during the ensuing years. The VOIR mission was canceled in 1982.
A simplified radar mission proposal was recommended by the Solar System Exploration Committee, and this one was submitted and accepted as the Venus Radar Mapper program in 1983. The proposal included a limited focus and a single primary scientific instrument. In 1985, the mission was renamed Magellan, in honor of the sixteenth-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, known for his exploration, mapping, and circumnavigation of the Earth.[2][3][4]
The objectives of the mission included:[5]
The spacecraft in a deployment position in Atlantis' payload bay
Trajectory of Magellan to Venus
