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	Magellan probe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Magellan was the first planetary spacecraft to be launched by a space shuttle when it was carried aloft by the shuttle Atlantis from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 4, 1989, on a mission designated STS-30.
		In this test, the spacecraft's solar panels were turned to a configuration resembling the blades of a windmill, and Magellan's orbit was lowered into the thin outer reaches of Venus' dense atmosphere.
		Magellan was powered by two square solar panels, each measuring 2.5 m (8.2 ft) on a side; together they supplied 1,200 watts of power (100 watt per m²).
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Magellan_spacecraft (2075 words)

	Magellan Summary Sheet
		Magellan was the first planetary spacecraft to be launched by a space shuttle when it was carried aloft by the shuttle Atlantis from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 4, 1989.
		Magellan's initial orbit was highly elliptical, taking it as close as 294 kilometers (182 miles) from Venus and as far away as 8,543 kilometers (5,296 miles).
		In September 1994, Magellan's orbit was lowered once more in another test called a "windmill experiment." In this test, the spacecraft's solar panels were turned to a configuration resembling the blades of a windmill, and Magellan's orbit was lowered into the thin outer reaches of Venus's dense atmosphere.
	www2.jpl.nasa.gov /magellan/fact1.html (2195 words)

	Magellan Mission to Venus
		The Magellan spacecraft was the first planetary explorer to be launched by a space shuttle when it was carried aloft by the shuttle Atlantis from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 4, 1989.
		The spacecraft carried a sophisticated imaging radar, which was used to make the most highly detailed map of Venus ever captured during its four years in orbit around Venus from 1990 to 1994.
		The spacecraft made a dramatic plunge into the thick, hot Venusian atmosphere on October 12, 1994, and was crushed by the pressure of Venus's atmosphere.
	www.solarviews.com /eng/magellan.htm (575 words)

	Magellan (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		On May 4, 1989, the Magellan spacecraft was deployed from the shuttle.
		The Magellan spacecraft's deployment from the shuttle Atlantis' cargo bay was captured by an astronaut with a hand-held camera pointed through the shuttle's aft flight deck windows.
		Once the shuttle was safely away from the spacecraft, the IUS ignited and placed Magellan on course for its 15-month journey to Venus.
	www.astronomical.org /planets/welcome/magellan.htm (433 words)

	Magellan Mission and Vehicle Descriptions
		Magellan Fact Sheet _________________________________________________________________ MISSION SUMMARY The Magellan spacecraft, named after the sixteenth-century Portuguese explorer whose expedition first circumnavigated the Earth, was launched May 4, 1989, and arrived at Venus on August 10, 1990.
		The attitude of the Magellan spacecraft is controlled through the use of reaction wheels, with monopropellant rocket motors being used to periodically desaturate the reaction wheels.
		During the mapping phase of the orbit, the spacecraft is initially oriented with the HGA pointing down toward Venus, with the exact attitude being a function of the spacecraft altitude.
	www.friends-partners.org /oldfriends/jgreen/magellan.html (1916 words)

	Magellan (spacecraft) - Search Results - MSN Encarta
		Magellan (spacecraft), United States space probe that was launched in 1989 and mapped most of the surface of the planet Venus.
		Magellan, Ferdinand (1480?-1521), Portuguese-born Spanish explorer and navigator, leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate, or sail...
		Magellan, Strait of, channel, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, separating the southern tip of the South American mainland from the island of...
	encarta.msn.com /Magellan_(spacecraft).html (102 words)

	Magellan
		The primary objectives of the Magellan mission were to map the surface of Venus with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and to determine the topographic relief of the planet.
		The Magellan mission scientific objectives were to study land forms and tectonics, impact processes, erosion, deposition, chemical processes, and model the interior of Venus.
		The Magellan spacecraft was deployed from shuttle STS-30 on May 5, 1989, arrived at Venus on August 10, 1990 and was inserted into a near-polar elliptical orbit with a periapsis altitude of 294 km at 9.5 deg.
	www.astronautix.com /craft/magellan.htm (852 words)

	[No title]
		Magellan is the first planetary probe to be launched from a Space Shuttle and the first planetary spacecraft to be launched in nearly 11 years.
		Magellan Spacecraft The Magellan spacecraft was designed and constructed by Martin Marietta Astronautics Group, Denver, Colo. The height of the spacecraft is 21 feet.
		The Magellan spacecraft is physically attached to the IUS at eight attachment points, providing substantial load carrying capability while minimizing the transfer of heat across the connecting points.
	science.ksc.nasa.gov /shuttle/missions/sts-30/sts-30-press-kit.txt (8971 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		The loss of signal, which was anticipated, was due to low power on the spacecraft, exacerbated by Magellan's orientation as it performed a final experiment in the upper atmosphere of Venus.
		Magellan gathered scientific data on the planet's upper atmosphere, including aerodynamic interactions with it during the spacecraft's final descent, by orienting its wing-like solar panels in opposite directions, like a windmill.
		It was carried out as the spacecraft was within weeks, if not days, of the end of its useful life due to expected decreases in solar power output from the thermal stress produced by more than 15,000 orbits of Venus.
	igpp.ucla.edu /~editor/vol01no24_1.txt (340 words)

	Magellan Mission Characterization - Abstract
		Although other spacecraft have flown to Venus, and the former Soviet Union even sent probes to the surface, Magellan was the first spacecraft to extensively map the Venusian landscape.
		The continual success of Magellan helps to bolster NASA's interplanetary programs especially in light of the failed Mars spacecraft, Mars Observer, and a still stuck antenna on the craft Galileo, which is on its way to Jupiter.
		Magellan's primary mission was to map the Venusian surface using synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
	www.tsgc.utexas.edu /archive/characterizations/magellan2.html (341 words)

	Spacecraft (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		The spacecraft, built by the Naval Research Lab, was launched on January 25 1994 to a 425 km by 2950 km orbit of the Moon for a 2 month mapping mission.
		In early May the spacecraft was to have been sent out of lunar orbit toward a flyby of the asteroid 1620 Geographos but a failure prevented the attempt.
		Later in the mission, the Wind spacecraft will be inserted into a special halo orbit in the solar wind upstream from the Earth, at the unique distance which allows Wind to always remain between the Earth and the Sun (about 930,000 to 1,050,000 miles, or 1,500,000 to 1,690,000 kilometers, from the Earth).
	www.seds.org /billa/tnp/spacecraft.html (3254 words)

	Magellan Spacecraft - Venus Radar Mapper
		Magellan spacecraft radar mapped Venus's surface from 1990 to 1994.
		Magellan was the first planetary spacecraft to have been intentionally crashed.
		Magellan was the first interplanetary spacecraft to be launched by the Space shuttle.
	www.aerospaceguide.net /spaceprobe/magellanspacecraft.html (239 words)

	Magellan Facts
		The Magellan spacecraft was deployed from the Space Shuttle Atlantis May 4, 1989, after Atlantis had carried Magellan, sitting atop an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster rocket, into low Earth orbit.
		Once the shuttle was safely 25 miles away from the spacecraft, the IUS ignited and placed Magellan on course for its 15-month journey to the planet next door, to arrive at Venus August 10, 1990.
		Near this point, the spacecraft turned away for 14 minutes as its attitude control computer maneuvered the spacecraft through a star calibration, or "starcal," during which it automatically adjusted for errors in its attitude knowledge.
	spacecraftkits.com /MFacts.html (1164 words)

	Walter Kiefer: Venus After Magellan (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		Prior to Magellan, many of the basic tectonic and volcanic landforms on Venus were known based on 1- 2-km-resolution radar images obtained by the Arecibo Radio Observatory and by the Soviet Union's Venera 15 and 16 spacecraft.
		Magellan's much sharper view allowed some of these early models to be quickly rejected, for example, the proposal that Aphrodite Terra was analogous to a terrestrial oceanic spreading center/transform fault system.
		Magellan made such studies possible for Venus for the first time, and initial analysis suggests an elastic lithosphere of 30 km or more in a number of locations.
	www.lpi.usra.edu /science/kiefer/Publications/magellan-txt.html (1758 words)

	SPACE.com -- Five Years Ago: Magellan Takes a Fall for Science
		Five years ago today the Magellan spacecraft is presumed to have burned up in the atmosphere of Venus, having ceased transmitting the day before.
		Magellan had spent more than four years orbiting the planet, using a sophisticated radar-imaging system to map the surface.
		Under command from Earth, Magellan lowered its orbit until it was skirting the upper layers of the planet's atmosphere.
	www.space.com /news/magellan_991013.html (330 words)

	text
		Magellan's only visible moving parts are a pair of 3.5 by 3.5 meter (11 by 11 foot) square panels that collect solar energy for charging the spacecraft's nickel-cadmium.....
		The Magellan spacecraft is prepared for testing in Denver, Colorado, at the Martin Marietta Astronautics Group, prime contractor for the spacecraft.
		Magellan's 3.7-meter-diameter (12-foot-diameter) high-gain antenna dish (used both for radar imaging and for communicating with Earth) and the ten-sided "bus," which contains some of the electronics subsystems, were both spares from the Voyager Project.
	history.nasa.gov /JPL-400-345/text.htm (4926 words)

	ASP: The Magellan Spacecraft at Venus
		Magellan was launched from Cape Canaveral on May 4, 1989, aboard the space shuttle Atlantis.
		Magellan sends out several thousand radar pulses each second, and its SAR system uses fast computers to accumulate multiple echoes, received from many locations simultaneously, as the spacecraft flies over the surface.
		Magellan speeds up and rises a few meters as it passes over high density areas (which have more gravity), and it slows down and falls closer to Venus as it flies over a lower-density region.
	www.astrosociety.org /education/publications/tnl/18/18.html (2486 words)

	Exploring The Planets - VENUS - Seeing Through the Clouds: Magellan at Venus (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		Magellan used radar to produce the first high-resolution global map of Venus.
		Magellan's large main antenna bounced radar signals off the surface of Venus and transmitted the resulting data back to Earth.
		Magellan orbited Venus from 1990 until 1995, when it burned up in the planet's atmosphere.
	www.nasm.si.edu /research/ceps/etp/venus/mag_clds.html (206 words)

	Space Today Online -- Solar System -- Planet Venus
		Magellan completed one complete mapping of 90 percent of the surface of Venus with radar able to peer through the blanket of thick clouds which block visible light for optical cameras, then went into a second mapping cycle.
		Magellan's Venus pictures reminded geologists of California earthquake faults, Hawaiian volcanoes, the rift valleys of East Africa and Europe's Rhine Valley.
		Recently, the U.S. spacecraft Magellan orbited the planet and used its radar to draw detailed maps of the surface.
	www.spacetoday.org /SolSys/Venus/VenusProbes.html (905 words)

	The Solar System: Venus
		The Venus-orbiting Magellan spacecraft, already threatened with suspension of operations to save money, has developed serious transmitter trouble and for more than a week has been unable to send usable data and pictures for the completion of its mapping survey of the Venusian surface.
		Just as the Magellan spacecraft was being rescued from its latest technological adversity, space agency officials raised a problem that no amount of engineering skill can fix: After September 1993, there will be no more money for the mission to map Venus.
		New radar images from the Magellan spacecraft reveal that the planet Venus has apparently been completely resurfaced by volcanic eruptions and its second-highest mountain seems to be covered with fresh lava from an active volcano, scientists reported.
	partners.nytimes.com /library/national/science/venus-index.html (465 words)

	Jet Propulsion Laboratory
		Magellan was created as a follow-on to those missions, dramatically improving on their mapping resolution.
		On October 11, 1994, Magellan's orbit was lowered a final time, causing the spacecraft to become caught in the atmosphere and plunge to the surface; contact was lost the following day.
		Although much of Magellan was believed to be vaporized, some sections probably hit the planet's surface intact.
	www.jpl.nasa.gov /missions/past/magellan.html (282 words)

	Spacecraft Systems (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
		Rechargeable batteries are used as a backup for solar cells, for when the spacecraft passes through a planet's shadow or during maneuvers, when the panels aren't pointed toward the sun.
		When the wheel is spun in one direction, the spacecraft, having nothing to hold on to, turns the other way.
		Once the spacecraft has one point of reference, it only needs one more (sideways to the first point of reference) to know exactly which way it is facing.
	my.execpc.com /~culp/space/spacecraft.html (1077 words)

	The Celestia Motherlode: Spacecraft
		Magellan went into orbit around Venus on August 9, 1990.
		The NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft went into orbit around the asteroid EROS, and eventually landed on it.
		The pioneer spacecrafts launched 1972 and 1973, "first to Jupiter, Saturn and beyond".
	www.celestiamotherlode.net /catalog/spacecraft.php (248 words)

	CosmicQuest @ The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
		The Magellan spacecraft was deployed from the Space Shuttle Atlantis as part of Shuttle mission STS-30 in 1989.
		Magellan arrived at Venus on August 10, 1990.
		The probe was able to collect radar images of 98 percent of the planet before the mission ended.
	www.childrensmuseum.org /cosmicquest/fieldguide/magellan.html (44 words)

	ch2
		Brightness variations in Magellan images result primarily from three different surface variables: (1) topographic effects, (2) roughness, and (3) electrical properties, each of which is influenced to some extent by variations in the radar incidence angle and/or the direction of illumination.
		As the spacecraft orbited from north to south, the SAR when pointed east was "left-looking"; when pointed west it was "right-looking." Variations of incidence angle with latitude in each of the three cycles are listed in Table 4-1 and shown in Figure 4-3.
		To maintain an acceptably high signal-to-noise ratio throughout each mapping orbit and compensate for the increasing signal loss as the distance to the surface increased, it was necessary to decrease the incidence angle progressively with increasing latitude on either side of periapsis.
	history.nasa.gov /JPL-93-24/ch2.htm (2282 words)

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