The Magellan radar mission to Venus has collected and processed radar data from the spacecraft in an elliptical orbit around the planet. This multimode radar is the only science instrument on the mission and had the objective of mapping at least 70 percent of the planet surface during the primary mission or first cycle of 243 days. The spacecraft was launched in May 1989 and arrived at Venus in Aug. 1990. A few weeks later, the mapping of the planet began. During the first cycle of mapping, nearly 84 percent of the surface was mapped. The second cycle operation, taking place now, is filling in some of the areas missed during the first cycle and also using the radar in some nonstandard imaging modes. The radar has three modes: synthetic aperture radar (SAR), altimetry, and passive radiometry. The radar system has produced maps of almost all of the Venusian surface with a resolution better than 600 m equivalent optical line pair. The system design and operation required to produce the high resolution images are described.
Magellan Mission Description and Radar System
1991
6 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Astronomy & Celestial Mechanics , Extraterrestrial Exploration , Imaging radar , Magellan project (Nasa) , Synthetic aperture radar , Venus surface , Data processing , Magellan spacecraft (Nasa) , Systems engineering , High resolution , Mapping , Radiometric resolution , Terrain analysis , Tomography
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