Paula Cleggett-Haleim

Headquarters, Washington, D.C. April 4, 1991

(Phone: 202/453-1547)

Robert MacMillin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-5011)

RELEASE: 91-49

MAGELLAN ACHIEVES PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE

EARLY

The Magellan Project at NASA's Jet Propulsion

Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., claimed an early victory today
and announced that the spacecraft had achieved its objective
for the primary phase of the Venus mission more than a month
before the end of the first 243-day mapping cycle. That is one
Venus rotation beneath the orbiting spacecraft.

Project Manager Tony Spear said because of the quality

of the radar images and the excitement they have generated in
the scientific community, an extended mission for a second
243-day mapping cycle has been approved by NASA and will
begin May 16.

Magellan reached its goal of mapping 70 percent of the

planet on Wednesday, said Spear, adding that by the end of the
first mapping cycle May 15, the spacecraft will have acquired
84 percent of the planet's surface.

The radar imager used to penetrate the thick clouds of

Venus and map the surface has worked flawlessly, Spear said.
He added that the spacecraft is sufficiently healthy to
continue mapping Venus well into this decade, "providing a
windfall of additional, exciting science return."
- more -

- 2 -

The first objective of the extended mission is to collect

the remaining 16 percent of the map, including the south pole,
which has never been imaged. Other surface features will be
imaged from a different view angle to yield a new perspective,
and image comparisons from one mapping cycle to the next
will be made to look for surface activity, Spear said.

Beginning in mid-November, every fourth orbit will be

dedicated to acquiring gravity data. Instead of mapping the
surface on those orbits, Magellan's high-gain antenna will
point to Earth and slight changes in the radio signal, resulting
from variations in Venus' tug on the spacecraft, will help
scientists determine local gravity changes. That information
will provide insight into the interior processes of the planet.
Additionally, a number of experiments are under study which
would use the radar in different modes to acquire higher
resolution topography.

Finally, near the end of the Magellan mission, the

spacecraft may be dipped into the upper atmosphere of Venus
to drag it into a circular orbit, a previously untried process
called aerobraking. The maneuver would be a valuable
engineering demonstration for future missions, Spear said.

"More importantly," he said, "a circular orbit would

greatly enhance science returns by permitting global, high-
resolution gravity and imaging data acquisition."

Magellan is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space

Science and Applications, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
The Hughes Aircraft Co. developed and operates the radar
instrument, and the Martin Marietta Corp. built and operates
the spacecraft.

- end -

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