science · 11 October 1994 · 30 years ago
In 1994, the space probe Magellan ended its mission to explore Venus when flight controllers lowered its orbit into Venus' dense atmosphere and it plunged toward the surface. Radio contact was lost the next day. Although much of Magellan was vaporized, some sections are thought to have hit the planet's surface intact. Launched 4 May 1989 in the cargo bay with the STS-30 Space Shuttle Atlantis mission, Magellan arrived at its planned polar orbit around Venus on 10 Aug 1990. As it circled once every 3-hr 15-min, the planet rotated slowly beneath it, and Magellan had collected radar images of the surface in strips about 17-28 km (10-17 mi) wide and radioed back the information on the large shield volcanoes, vast lava plains and sparse craters.
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