Historical Photo Of The Month - May 2004

Magellan at Kennedy Space Center
Photograph Number P-34094Ac

On May 4 JPL celebrates the 15th anniversary of Magellan's launch, which began a 15-month-long journey to Venus. High-resolution imaging radar was used to penetrate the heavy cloud cover and map 98 percent of the planet's surface. The photo above shows Magellan in the Vertical Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on March 17, 1989, when it was being prepared for launch. The spacecraft was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis into a low Earth orbit, then released from the cargo bay. The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) booster rocket, shown here with the spacecraft attached, powered the portion of the trip from Earth orbit to Venus.

In order to save costs, several major pieces of spare hardware were borrowed from the Voyager, Galileo, Mariner Mars 1971, Viking, and Ulysses projects. For example, the 12-foot high-gain dish antenna mounted on the top of the spacecraft was taken from Voyager. It acquired imaging and radiometry data and communicated with Earth. On the left side of the dish antenna is a white horn-shaped altimeter antenna that measured the height of surface features. Two solar panels folded up on the left and right sides provided about 1,200 watts of electrical power. The white thermal blankets covering most of the spacecraft provided temperature control.

For more information about Magellan, see the Magellan Project Web Page or fact sheet, or contact the JPL Archives.

Past Photos of the Month
Thumbnail pages 1996-2002 | 2003+

Past Photos of the Month Subject Index