NASA Photo ID: S88-51854           File Name: 10063251.jpg
  Film Type: 4x5                     Date Taken: 11/02/88
  Title: Artist concept of Magellan spacecraft above Venusian surface
  Description:
  Artist concept shows Magellan spacecraft in cruise configuration oriented 
  above Venusian surface, during data collection and radar mapping sequence.  
  Solar panels are deployed and low-gain and high gain antennas, altimeter 
  antenna, thermal control louvers, forward equipment module, equipment bus 
  with thermal control louvers, and control rocket engine module are visible. 
  The continued quest for detailed topographic measurements of Venus will
  again  be undertaken in April 1989 by Magellan, named after the 16th
  century  Portuguese explorer.  Magellan will orbit Venus about once every
  three hours,  acquiring radar data for 37 minutes of each orbit when it is
  closest to the  surface.  Using an advanced instrument called a synthetic
  aperature radar  (SAR), it will map more than 90 per cent of the surface
  with resolution ten  times better than the best prior spacecraft.  Magellan
  is managed by the Jet  Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); Martin Marietta is
  developing the spacecraft and  Hughes Aircraft Company, the advanced
  imaging radar. Magellan will be  deployed from the payload bay (PLB) of
  Atlantis, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 104,  during mission STS-30.  View provided
  by JPL with alternate number P31067.      
  
  Subject terms:
  EARTH (PLANET)                          
  MAGELLAN SPACECRAFT (NASA)              
  STS-30                                  
  VENUS (PLANET)                          
  VISUAL AIDS                             
  

NASA Home Page JSC Home Page Imagery Services Home PageSearch
For questions about Manned Spaceflight images, please contact:
JSC Office of Public Affairs
External Affairs Branch
Mail Code AP4
2101 NASA Road 1
Houston, TX 77058
Fax: (713) 483-2000