Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9411180045
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PASADENA, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
Magellan hurtled to its demise Tuesday in the gaseous atmosphere of Venus, ending its four-year mapping mission with one last experiment: a study of the spacecraft's aerodynamics as it descends.
Since there was no way to return Magellan to Earth, scientists ordered the craft into a slow dive to gather information that will be used in other missions.
The researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory began firing Magellan's thrusters at 7:21 a.m., sending it through miles of Venus' carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid clouds.
Magellan was expected to lose power and contact with Earth, possibly by today, ending the $900 million mission. Exactly what happens to the craft may never be known.
``It may get toasted and flutter down. It won't go in like a meteorite,'' project manager Douglas G. Griffith said. ``It will heat up. Maybe things will start to burn into cinders, but we don't really know for sure.''
Some of its parts may disintegrate, but the sturdiest components could drift and land on Venus as late as Monday, Griffith said.
During its mission, Magellan used radar images to see past the thick clouds surrounding Venus and sent back images of towering volcanoes and crisp-edged craters. The pictures allowed scientists their closest look ever at the surface features of Venus, allowing them to compare them to features on Earth.
``Sure, it seems kind of sad to us to do it, but we're ending the mission on a very positive note,'' said Mike Stewart, mission director.
Venus is the nearest planet to Earth, as close as 25 million miles away. Magellan was launched in 1989, and it went into orbit around Venus in 1990.
Magellan's slow dive will give scientists another batch of data. The fall is an experiment to explore the spacecraft's aerodynamics as it plows through Venus' atmosphere.
by CNB