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Abstract
The Magellan Venus orbiter carries only one scientific instrument: a 12.6-centimeter-wavelength radar system shared among three data-taking modes. The syntheticaperture mode images radar echoes from the Venus surface at a resolution of between 120 and 300 meters, depending on spacecraft altitude. In the altimetric mode, relative height measurement accuracies may approach 5 meters, depending on the terrain's roughness, although orbital uncertainties place a floor of about 50 meters on the absolute uncertainty. In areas of extremely rough topography, accuracy is limited by the inherent line-of-sight radar resolution of about 88 meters. The maximum elevation observed to date, corresponding to a planetary radius of 6062 kilometers, lies within Maxwell Mons. When used as a thermal emission radiometer, the system can determine surface emissivities to an absolute accuracy of about 0.02. Mosaicked and archival digital data products will be released in compact disk (CDROM) format.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Magellan: Radar performance and data products |
| Series title | Science |
| Volume | 252 |
| Issue | 5003 |
| Year Published | 1991 |
| Language | English |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Science |
| First page | 260 |
| Last page | 265 |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |