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G3/9I 0158673
This hemispheric
created by map-
ages captured by
Magellan onto a
computer-simu-
simulated color-
used to enhance
small-scale features
-- is based on color
images acquired by
Soviet spacecraft
August 10, 1990, the spacecraft maneuvered into an reaching Venus. Upon arrival,
elliptical, nearly polar orbit around Venus; radar fired, slowing the spacecraft.
three times as large as Earth's combined continental land Building Magellan was an exercise in efficiency; the
masses. The amount of digital imaging data Magellan spacecraft incorporates several existing hardware designs
has returned is more than twice the sum of returus from all and includes spare parts from a number of other missions.
previous United States planetary missions. Magellan's solar panels use solar energy to generate the
On September 15, 1992, Magellan began a fourth 1,200 watts of electrical power required to operate all the
243-day cycle: a global gravity survey that will help scien- onboard equipment. Multilayered thermal blankets and a
tists to map the internal structure of Venus. special white paint offer protection from the extremes of
Magellan's large dish antenna toward the Sun --so the rest
the highest data rate ever used. The data are received on
inertial upper stage. The space- near Madrid, Spain, and near Canberra, Australia. The
craft itself is 6.4 meters tall,
3.7 meters across (high-gain DSN in turn transmits the downlinked information to the
antenna diameter) and weighs
3,460 kilograms. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
In low Earth orbit,
the Space Shuttle
Atlantis deploys
Magellan on its
15-month journey
to Venus. Unlike its
namesake, the ex-
plorer Ferdinand
Magellan--who
never survived his
epic travels -- the
Magellan spacecraft
easily completed its
voyage to Venus.
It then began its
real mission -- to
map the surface
of Earth's "sister
planet."
VENUS
UNVEED
The Venus unveiled by Magellan shows a tortured surface
the surface of Venus. Unique On Earth, large crustal "plates" drift slowly across the
to Venus, coronae may reflect
deep-seated interior processes surface, driven by currents of hot rock moving below the
that uplift and deform the sur-
face and cause volcanism. crust in a zone of dense material called the mantle. Where
the plates separate from each other, they leave a rift that
ocean basins.
Tessera terrain,
within
Alpha Although Venus has
Regio, isachaotic
mixtureof
ridges, troughs
and depressions neither running water nor
suggesting numerous
episodes
ofdeformation. Tessera
(Greek rainfall, the high surface
for"tile") was named by the
Soviets after such terrain was temperatures would prob-
seen in radar imagery from
their Venera 15 and 16 missions ably cause the slopes to re-
in the 1980s.
lax gradually over millions
by continuing tectonic
VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
S
/,
On this topographi(
a portion of Venus'
surface features --
contains Maxwell
Terra's highlands
I of center).
Volcanoes are everywhere on Venus: At least 100,000
square in the image represents "legs" of the tick-like features may represent lava flows,
a gap in radar data.
diameter.
Other features of voleanism include giant calderas --
in diameter.
by any standard.
ter cannot exist on Venus -- so beyond knowing that it re- several hundred million years, comparable to the average
flects radar energy well, this bright material remains unex- surface age of Earth's continents.
plained. One current theory holds that the material Another atmospheric interaction is evident in Magellan
comprises small grains of metallic mineral such as magnetite images: Meteorite impact may produce intense atmospheric
or pyrite (a form of iron sulfide embedded in or coated on features around some craters. Also, large, arc-shaped fea-
basaltic rock, also known as "fool's gold"). tures extend to the west of quite a few craters, suggesting
planet's cratering process" There is a dearth of craters Magellan has revealed many features on Venus related
smaller than about 2 kilometers in diameter. Projectiles to wind on the planet's surface. Wind "streaks" are often
that normally would produce such small craters vaporize located near topographic barriers such as ridges. Impact
or break up during their passage through the dense atmo- craters may have provided the material moved by the wind.
sphere. The exceptions are crater clusters, which occur The orientation of the streaks indicates that the winds tend
when large projectiles shatter just before impact, showering to blow toward the equator from the northern and southern
an area with meteoritic fragments. hemispheres. Study of the streaks contributes to the under-
Studies of the relationship between Venus' atmosphere standing of Venus'global wind patterns. Any changes in the
and its abundance of craters have helped scientists to de- streaks that are evident when comparing data from several
termine that the planet's atmosphere has been in place for mapping cycles will help scientists to determine the rate at
field
streaks
lie in a valley
and
between
a dune
ANGLING
FORTHE
BEST
LOOK
Ishtar Terra and Meshkenet
hemisphere. The dunes range Mapping cycles subsequent to the first 243-day period have
from 0.5 to 10 kilometers in
length and are about 0.2 kilo- allowed the use of different observation strategies and dif-
meter wide. The orientation
of the dunes and wind streaks ferent "look" angles that constantly increase our ability to
in the southern part of the
field indicates a northeasterly interpret Magellan's innumerable images. During the first
wind flow -- shifting to a west-
erly flow in the northern part mapping cycle, the angle from which Magellan looked at
of the field.
from high above the planet over the north polar region,
part of Venus' Lavinia Region. Looking at the same target from two different angles
Above, the north-south trend-
ing trough features a bright results in "stereo pairs": a three-dimensional view that is
side at right and a dark side
ing from the left in the image scientific interpretation of geological features.
above and from the right in
the image at right. Still, since varying angles make comparisons difficult
This 72-kilometer-diameter
by impact.
POLE POSITION
The 30-kilometer-diameter zero degree longitude, passes through the central peak of
Turkish educator and author a small crater named Ariadne, which lies just south of
500 kilometers. The streak Throughout the 1980s, radar telescopes at Arecibo,
and crater materials (the mete- ingly higher grade radar images of Venus. In addition,
diameter antenna ir
Goldstone, Californi
began receiving
from Magellan on
Goldstone antenna,
tralia, downlinked
flawlessly and at a
phenomenal rate:
impact or volcanic
lava.
Thefourseparate
cratersin respectively, on a map of the sky as
thisphotograph
-- with rims
fragments.
Magellan has made key contribu-
grees declination.
GRAVITY STUDIES
interior.
cools and sinks back into the deep interior. Also, surface
Located in an equatorial high- planet's evolution, therefore, we must know what has hap-
land called Aria Regio, Sapas
Mons is 400 kilometers across pened and is still happening in the planet's interior. Grav-
and 2 kilometers high. Two
flat-topped mesas, which ap- ity data can provide this information.
pear dark in this image, are
seen at the volcano's summit. Gravity data help scientists to determine the thickness
The sides of the volcano are
covered with numerous over- of the layers -- such as the crust and the mantle -- that
lapping lava flows, which
material is rising.
tions in the spacecraft's orbital speed. volcanic domes and lava flows.
topographic relief
of terrain in this il
gerated by a factq
of 10.
DATA PROCESSING & DISTRIBUTION
the future.
around Earth!
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Franz W. Leberl
Vexcel Corporation
Harold Masursky
U.5. Geological Survey
(In Memoriam)
\ '_ .... J
Jean-Pierre Barriot
Georges Balmino
Centre National d'_tudes
(Principal Investigator)
Centre National d'_tudes Spatiales (France)
Spatiales (France) Nicole Borderies
GUEST INVESTIGATORS
Regio is showcased
in this three-dimen-
sional perspective
meters in height.
another volcano,
reaches 2 kilome-
ters in height.