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Magellan

Image: NASA · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Planetary science

Magellan

Completed

NASA

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Image: NASA · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Launched
4 May 198918:46:59 UTC
Last contact
13 Oct 199410:05:00 UTC
End declared
13 Oct 1994
Duration
5 years 5 months
Destinations
Venus

A NASA orbiter that used radar to see through Venus's clouds, mapping 98% of the surface in detail.

Milestones

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19901991199219931994

Spacecraft

Magellan

Orbiter
Completed

Orbiter built largely from spare Voyager and Galileo parts, using its 3.7 m dish for both radar mapping and communications.

Launch mass
3,348 kg
Dry mass
1,035 kg
Size
4.6 m × 3.7 m, span 9.2 m
Power
Solar
Last contact
13 Oct 1994, 10:05:00 UTC
End declared
13 Oct 1994
Designator
1989-033B

Mission details from science.nasa.gov.