Magellan
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Magellan at Venus
The Magellan spacecraft is depicted in orbit around Venus in this artist's concept.
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Venus - Computer Simulated Global View of the Northern Hemisphere
The northern hemisphere is displayed in this global view of the surface of Venus as seen by NASA's Magellan spacecraft.
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Hemispheric View of Venus Centered at the North Pole
This hemispheric view of Venus, as revealed by more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994 Magellan mission, is centered on the North Pole. NASA's Magellan spacecraft imaged more than 98% of Venus.
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Hemispheric View of Venus Centered at the South Pole
This hemispheric view of Venus, as revealed by more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994 Magellan mission, is centered on the North Pole. NASA's Magellan spacecraft imaged more than 98% of Venus.
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False Color Image of Volcano Sapas Mons
This false-color image obtained by NASA's Magellan spacecraft shows the volcano Sapas Mons, which is located in the broad equatorial rise called Atla Regio.
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Venus - Three-Dimensional Perspective View of Sapas Mons
Sapas Mons is displayed in the center of this computer-generated three-dimensional perspective view from NASA's Magellan spacecraft of the surface of Venus.
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Venus - Three Dimensional Perspective View of Maat Mons
Maat Mons is displayed in this 3-dimensional perspective view of the surface of Venus taken by NASA Magellan. The viewpoint is located north of Maat Mons.
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Magellan's Perspective View of Ovda Regio, 15° N, 77° E
This perspective view of Venus, generated by computer from NASA's Magellan data and color-coded with emissivity, shows part of the lowlands to the north of Ovda Regio. The prominent topographic feature is a shield volcano.
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Venus - Eistla Region
This Magellan full resolution mosaic, centered at 12.3 north latitude, 8.3 degrees east longitude, shows an area in the Eistla region of Venus.
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Venus - Complex Crater 'Buck' in Navka Region
This crater in the Navka region of Venus was mapped by NASA's Magellan on Sept. 26-27, 1990 during orbits 459 and 460. It has the terraced walls, flat radar-dark floor, and central peak that are characteristic of craters classified as complex.
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Mission Summary
The Magellan spacecraft, which arrived at Venus in 1990, made the first global map of the surface of Venus as well as global maps of the planet's gravity field. The mission produced surprising findings about Venus, including a relatively young planetary surface possibly formed by lava flows from planet-wide volcanic eruptions.
In October 1994, the Magellan spacecraft intentionally plunged to the surface of Venus to gather data on the planet's atmosphere before it ceased operations. It marked the first time an operating plantary spacecraft had been intentionally crashed.
Scientific Instrument(s)
- Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
