Elain Brown Science 09.06.2022 05:Sep AM EDT

Remembering NASA’s Magellan Mission: Capturing the First Image of Venus

NASA deployed the Magellan spacecraft into deep space to explore Venus.

In the late 80s, NASA worked on a spacecraft on a mission to image the entire surface of the planet Venus. On May 4, 1989, NASA launched the Magellan spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

One of the most fruitful examples of deep space exploration was the Magellan expedition to the planet Venus. In addition to becoming the first spacecraft to capture a photograph of Venus's whole surface, it also produced a number of important discoveries about the planet.

NASA's Magellan Spacecraft

NASA's Venus intended spacecraft was named after Ferdinand Magellan, a well-known Portuguese explorer of his time.

NASA's Magellan mission was the first deep space probe launched by a space shuttle. Magellan became the first spacecraft to image the entire surface of Venus.

The spacecraft was designed to map 70% of the Venusian surface. Magellan experienced a communications blackout that lasted for 15 hours, six days after it had first entered orbit.

After a second power outage that lasted over 17 hours on August 21, 1990, ground controllers decided to implement new preventive software that would reset the system in the event of an anomaly of this kind.

Magellan discovered that the surface temperature of Venus reaches 887 degrees Fahrenheit and has high atmospheric pressure.

The planet does not have any water at all, which makes the process of erosion on the planet incredibly slower. Due to this, surface features have the potential to remain unchanged for hundreds of millions of years.

In addition, Magellan discovered that the surface of Venus is covered by at least 85% of volcanic overflow.

NASA's Magellan Spacecraft Mapped Venus

NASA's spacecraft began transmitting high-quality radar images of Venus on September 15, 1990.

According to NASA, on May 15, 1991, Magellan finished its first 243-day cycle of radar mapping, giving the first unobstructed images of 83.7% of the surface. On January 15, 1992, the second mapping cycle of the spacecraft was finished, bringing coverage to Venus by about 96%.

Magellan focused on the stereo imaging of the planet and ended its third cycle on Sept. 13, 1992, covering at least 98% of Venus.

Magellan continued to do further imaging of the planet after the third cycle. The spacecraft then proceeded to have a fourth to sixth cycle to acquire gravimetric data on Venus.

NASA was able to accomplish much more than it had hoped to with its space mission. For this, various discoveries regarding the planet Venus were made.

The surface of Venus displayed features such as tectonic activity, volcanism, turbulent surface winds, round-shaped domes, and kilometers of lava canals.

NASA's Magellan Mission Ends

NASA's Magellan spacecraft burned in deep space due to the intense heat of Venus.

In 1993, the spacecraft went to the outermost part of the atmosphere of Venus. However, on October 13, 1994, contact was lost with the spacecraft while it was being directed to enter the atmosphere in order to collect data on its aerodynamics.

After completing one of the most successful explorations of outer space, the spacecraft disintegrated in the atmosphere of Venus around ten hours later.