NASA Magellan spacecraft was a Planet Venus orbiter. It was as a high resolution
radar mapping mission. The Magellan Spacecraft was named after the famous 16th
century Portuguese Explorer Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521).
History and
Achievements:
Magellan was carried into earth orbit by the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-30) on
May 4, 1989. The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) was used to launch Magellan on an
interplanetary trajectory to Planet Venus.
The Magellan Spacecraft took 15 months to reach
Venus. It was inserted in orbit around Venus on August 10, 1990.
Magellan spacecraft radar mapped Venus's surface from 1990 to 1994. Magellan
carried radar instruments which penetrated Venus's thick atmosphere in order to
map it.
Volcanic lava flows, quake faults and other features on the surface were seen for the first time.
Nasa ended Magellan's mission on October 12, 1994 by allowing it to crash
through the Venus atmosphere. Magellan was the first planetary spacecraft to
have been intentionally crashed.
Did you know?
The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) uses solid rocket fuel.
Magellan was the first interplanetary
spacecraft to be launched by the Space shuttle.
Related Books
Atlas
of Venus by Peter Cattermole (Author), Patrick
Moore (Author)
From
Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
Venus
Revealed: A New Look Below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet by
David Harry Grinspoon
From
Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
Venus (Space
Science Series)
by Donald M. Hunten
From
Amazon.com ,
Amazon.co.uk
Venus II: Geology,
Geophysics, Atmosphere, and Solar Wind Environment (Space Science
Series) by D. M. Hunten
From
Amazon.com ,
Amazon.co.uk
Magellan and the Radar Mapping of Venus
(Missions in Space) by Gregory Vogt
From
Amazon.com
Video
Venus: Second Planet (1994)
From
Amazon.com
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