Magellan To Venus

[Music] after a 15-month long cruise the magellan spacecraft will go into orbit around venus on august 10th a solid rocket motor will ignite as the spacecraft dips behind venus slowing its velocity and putting it into orbit for the first 20 days in orbit magellan will be tested and its orbit trimmed before its high resolution radar begins mapping the surface magellan will orbit venus for one venus day equal to 243 earth days its synthetic aperture radar or sar will provide a resolution of the planet's surface not seen before magellan will orbit venus once every three hours and nine minutes that includes a 37-minute data gathering period which will fill the recorders the spacecraft will then turn its main or high gain antenna back toward earth and for 115 minutes it will send back its data [Music] [Music] [Music] once more it will reorient itself and the imaging cycle will be repeated [Music] magellan also will measure the altitude of surface features by pointing the radar straight down and measuring the time it takes the signal to return [Music] a third type of measurement uses the radar to observe passive thermal energy emitted by the hot surface this also helps determine the composition of the surface from radar information a two-dimensional image is moved data are then stored on tape future study the data also will be used to make globes and maps of these venus perpetually obscured by thick clouds is our closest planetary neighbor because it is similar to earth size and mass it may provide information for a better understanding of earth [Music]