The Magellan Venus Probe Frank Koconis

Contents Venus compared to Earth Earlier exploration of Venus The problem: How to map the surface The Magellan Mission Working at JPL

Venus Compared to Earth EarthVenus Diameter12,742 km12,104 km Distance from Sun150,000,000 km108,000,000 km “Day” (rotation period)1 day243 days Year365 days228 days Surface gravity1 G0.9 G Atmospheric compositionN 2 (77%), O 2 (21%), Ar (1%), C0 2 (0.4%) C0 2 (96%), N 2 (3%), traces of other gasses Atmospheric pressure1.092 Average surface temperature15° C (59° F)477° C (891° F)

Earlier Exploration of Venus From Earth, all we see is the clouds ->

Earlier Exploration of Venus (cont.) So we have sent many unmanned probes there NameYearSent ByNotes Mariner 21962USAFly-by at 34,745 km Venera 41967Russia (USSR)Entered atmosphere Mariner 51967USAFly-by at 4023 km Venera 51969Russia (USSR)Descended into atmosphere by parachute Venera 61969Russia (USSR)Descended into atmosphere by parachute Venera 71970Russia (USSR)Soft-landed on surface; survived 23 min. Venera 81972Russia (USSR)Soft-landed on surface Mariner USAFly-by en-route to Mercury Venera 91975Russia (USSR)Soft-landed and transmitted pictures Venera Russia (USSR)Landed; transmitted pictures for 65 min. Pioneer USAOrbited and mapped surface using radar Pioneer USAEntered atmosphere

Earlier Exploration of Venus (cont.) …more than to any other planet NameYearSent ByNotes Venera Russia (USSR)Soft-landed Venera Russia (USSR)Soft-landed but failed to return images Venera Russia (USSR)Soft-landed and sent color images Venera Russia (USSR)Drilled into soil and took seismic readings Venera Russia (USSR)Orbiter; mapped surface using radar Venera Russia (USSR)Orbiter; mapped surface using radar Vega 11984Russia (USSR)Dropped balloon probe en-route to Halley’s Vega 21984Russia (USSR)Dropped balloon probe en-route to Halley’s

The Surface of Venus (Venera 9)

The Problem: How to Map the Surface You can’t see through the clouds BUT- Radar can go through Using radar to map the topography of Venus – Earth-based radar: many attempts starting in the 1940’s – Pioneer 12: produced a map with about 100 km resolution – Venera 15 and 16: produced map with 2 km resolution – Magellan

The Magellan Mission Named after Ferdinand Magellan – Led first round-the-globe voyage (1519 – 1522) – Killed in a dispute between tribes in the Philippines, but one of his ships completed the trip Magellan mission to Venus – Developed by the Jet Propulsion Lab and Martin Marietta – Launched on May 4, 1989 – Reached Venus on August 7, 1990 – End of mission: October 13, 1994

The Magellan Mission- The Probe

The Magellan Mission- Launch

The Magellan Mission- Getting There

The Magellan Mission- Mapping Venus

The Magellan Mission- Polar Orbit

The Magellan Mission- Results Goal was to map 70% of surface, to 100m resolution Actually mapped 98%!

The Magellan Mission- Results

The Magellan Mission- Aphrodite Terra

The Magellan Mission- Maat Mons

The Magellan Mission- Addams Crater

The Magellan Mission- My Role On-board computer was called CDS (Command and Data Subsystem) – Much less powerful than a smartphone – Operated the probe with no assistance from Earth – New instructions sent once per week My role: testing the CDS (1984 – 1985) – CDS needed to detect and handle failures in spacecraft components – To test this, a rack of test computers was built, each acting as one component of the probe – Our team programmed these test computers

Working at JPL

JPL: The Campus

JPL: Spacecraft Assembly Facility

JPL: Deep-Space Network Three sites: California, Australian and Spain

JPL: Tracking Facility

JPL: Museum Ranger 7 Pioneer 1Explorer 1

Frank Koconis Education – Myers Park High School: Class of 1980 – Georgia Institute of Technology: Class of 1984 Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, with High Honors – University of NC at Charlotte: 1992 Master of Science in Computer Science Attended evening classes while working full time After JPL… – JPL was my first job after Georgia Tech – Since then, I have worked in many different industries including telecommunications, textiles, government, teaching, petroleum and banking – Currently working for Syncsort

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