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Magellan
Sign in to saveAlso known as Venus Radar Mapper, VRM, Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar, VOIR, Magellan spacecraft, Magellan orbiter
NASA robotic space probe that studied the planet Venus
Key facts
- Mission type
- Venus orbiter
- Operator
- NASA / JPL
- Cospar id
- 1989-033B
- Website
- science.nasa.gov
- Mission duration
- 5 years, 5 months and 9 days
- Manufacturer
- Martin Marietta , Hughes Aircraft
- Launch mass
- 3,445 kg (7,595 lb)
- Dry mass
- 1,035 kg (2,282 lb)
- Power
- ~1,030 watts
- Launch date
- May 4, 1989, 18:47:00 ( 1989-05-04UTC18:47Z ) UTC
- Rocket
- Space Shuttle Atlantis , STS-30 / IUS
- Launch site
- Kennedy LC-39B
- Disposal
- Deorbited
- Decay date
- October 13, 1994, 10:05:00 ( 1994-10-13UTC10:06Z ) UTC
- Reference system
- Cytherocentric
- Semi major axis
- 10,470 kilometers (6,510 mi)
- Pericytherion altitude
- 295 kilometers (183 mi)
- Apocytherion altitude
- 7,762 kilometers (4,823 mi)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Duration
- 1988
- Mass
- 1035
- Official website
- solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/magellan/in-depth
- Image
- Magellan - artist depiction.png
- Width
- 9.2
- Length
- 6.3627
Show 5 more facts
- UTC date of spacecraft launch
- 1989-05-04
- Commons category
- Magellan (spacecraft)
- time of object orbit decay
- 1994-10-13
- orbits completed
- 15032
- capital cost
- 680000000
Sources (13)
via Wikidata · CC0
~30 min read
Article
The Magellan spacecraft was a 1,035-kilogram (2,282 lb) robotic space probe launched by NASA on May 4, 1989. Its mission objectives were to map the surface of Venus by using synthetic-aperture radar and to measure the planetary gravitational field.
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.