From: nasanews
Date: Dec 7 18:43 PST
Subject: Magellan Results
Scientists on NASA's Magellan mission will discuss new findings about
the surface and crust of Venus and the need for future exploration of
Earth's sister planet on Dec. 7, during the 1994 fall meeting of the
American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
New results from analysis of the gravity data provided by the
spacecraft shows Venus may have a thick, strong lithosphere that is
different from what scientists had previously believed before Magellan
completed its mapping mission earlier this year.
Dr. Ellen Stofan, who was deputy project scientist on the project, will
discuss the kinds of future exploration that scientists would recommend
as a follow-up to Magellan.
Others on the panel at the noontime news conference will include Dr.
Steve Saunders, project scientist; Dr. Roger Phillips of Washington
University in St. Louis; and Dr. Sean Solomon of Carnegie Institution,
Washington, D.C.
The successful five-and-a-half year mission to map the surface and
measure the gravity of Venus ended October 12, 1994, when ground
controllers lost contact with the spacecraft. It is believed the
spacecraft burned up in the atmosphere later the same day.
The loss of signal, which was anticipated, was due to low power on the
spacecraft. During its final descent, the spacecraft gathered
scientific data on the planet's upper atmosphere, including dynamic
interactions with it, by orienting its wing-like solar panels in
opposite directions like the sails of a windmill.
Magellan was launched in May 1989 and entered orbit around Venus in
August 1990. It gathered data for more than four years and exceeded
all of the mission objectives many times over.
Using imaging radar, Magellan mapped 98 percent of the planet's
cloud-covered surface and compiled a high-resolution, comprehensive
gravity map of 95 percent of the planet. The gravity data allow
scientists to see the interior of the planet and compare that knowledge
of the interior to the surface features revealed by Magellan's radar
images.
Magellan also performed a first-of-a-kind aerobraking maneuver by
dipping into the atmosphere to reshape its orbit. The aerobraking
technique is being used in the design of the 1996 Mars Global Surveyor
mission to enable a smaller, less expensive spacecraft to enter orbit
around Mars in 1997, using much less fuel than would otherwise be
required.
The Magellan mission was managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for
NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.
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- T o d d E. V a n H o o s e a r -
``'''vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu - vanhoose@msu.edu - vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu
(._.) Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI USA
(_) Computer Laboratory - Department of Communication
`---' <A HREF="http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/">My Home Page</A>
"I'd love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code!"
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