Historical Photo of the Month - May 2009

Magellan Model Space Simulation
Photograph Number P-31066A

In January 1987, JPL photographers Carol Lachata and Duane Patterson took photographs of a small Magellan spacecraft model against a black background. This image was later combined with two others in a triple exposure that would depict the spacecraft in orbit around Venus. The second image was taken with a fiberoptic light poking through the background and a star filter on the camera lens. The third image was a projected slide showing the curve of the planet Venus, with most of the planet in darkness. At a time when computer animation was in its early stages, this was a commonly used method for creating an image of a spacecraft with the planet it would explore. In those "pre-Photoshop" days, there was no way of photo compositing, other than the type which was done "in camera". The image was later used on project web pages, in publications, and in an article for Time magazine.

Magellan was launched on May 4, 1989 in the cargo bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis and went into orbit around Venus on August 10, 1990. Its imaging radar mapped 98 percent of the surface of the planet, despite a thick layer of sulfuric acid clouds.

For more information about Magellan or the history of JPL, see the Magellan web site or contact the JPL Archives for assistance. [Archival and other sources: Photo album and index, Magellan web sites, Magellan Venus Explorer's Guide (JPL Publication 90-24), and Carol Lachata.]