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The Magellan Venus Probe

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

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The Magellan Venus Probe

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  1. The Magellan Venus Probe Frank Koconis

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

  3. Venus Compared to Earth

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

  5. Earlier Exploration of Venus (cont.) So we have sent many unmanned probes there

  6. Earlier Exploration of Venus (cont.) …more than to any other planet

  7. The Surface of Venus (Venera 9)

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. The Magellan Mission- The Probe

  11. The Magellan Mission- Launch

  12. The Magellan Mission- Getting There

  13. The Magellan Mission- Mapping Venus

  14. The Magellan Mission- Polar Orbit

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

  16. The Magellan Mission- Results

  17. The Magellan Mission- Aphrodite Terra

  18. The Magellan Mission- Maat Mons

  19. The Magellan Mission- Addams Crater

  20. 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

  21. Working at JPL

  22. JPL: The Campus

  23. JPL: Spacecraft Assembly Facility

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

  25. JPL: Tracking Facility

  26. JPL: Museum Pioneer 1 Explorer 1 Ranger 7

  27. 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

  28. Questions? Web Links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellan_%28spacecraft%29 http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/magellan/guide.html http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/venusfact.html http://www.astronomynotes.com/tables/tablesb.htm http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34067 http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1989-033B http://yooperabroad.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/nasa-jet-propulsion-lab/

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