Magellan (spacecraft)

Magellan

Magellan with its Star 48B solid rocket motor undergoing final checks at the Kennedy Space Center
Mission type	Venus orbiter
Operator	NASA / JPL
COSPAR ID	1989-033B
SATCAT no.	19969
Website	science.nasa.gov
Mission duration	5 years, 5 months and 9 days
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Martin Marietta Hughes Aircraft
Launch mass	3,445 kg (7,595 lb)[1]
Dry mass	1,035 kg (2,282 lb)
Power	~1,030 watts
Start of mission
Launch date	May 4, 1989, 18:47:00 (1989-05-04UTC18:47Z) UTC
Rocket	Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-30 / IUS
Launch site	Kennedy LC-39B
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	October 13, 1994, 10:05:00 (1994-10-13UTC10:06Z) UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Cytherocentric
Semi-major axis	10,470 kilometres (6,510 mi)
Eccentricity	0.39177
Pericytherion altitude	295 kilometres (183 mi)
Apocytherion altitude	7,762 kilometres (4,823 mi)
Inclination	85.5°
Period	3.26 hours
Venus orbiter
Orbital insertion	August 10, 1990, 17:00:00 UTC
Instruments RDRS Radar System
Legacy insignia for the Magellan mission, commemorating the deorbit of the spacecraft in 1994.

The Magellan spacecraft was a 1,035-kilogram (2,282 lb) robotic space probe launched by NASA on May 4, 1989. Its mission objectives were to map the surface of Venus by using synthetic-aperture radar and to measure the planetary gravitational field.^[2]

The Magellan probe was the first interplanetary mission to be launched from the Space Shuttle, the first one to use the Inertial Upper Stage booster, and the first spacecraft to test aerobraking as a method for circularizing its orbit. Magellan was the fifth successful NASA mission to Venus, and it ended an eleven-year gap in U.S. interplanetary probe launches.