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1993-04-23
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (213) 354-5011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has selected Martin ì
ì
Marietta Aerospace, Denver, Colorado and Hughes Aircraft, El ì
ì
Segundo, California to perform studies which could lead to ì
ì
the final development of an unmanned NASA spacecraft to make ì
ì
topographical radar maps of Venus in the mid-1980s.
When the $500,000 study contracts are completed in ì
ì
the summer of 1980, one of the two companies may be chosen to ì
ì
develop the VOIR (Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar) spacecraft if ì
ì
the mission is approved by the U.S. Congress.
Planned for a shuttle launching and five month trip ì
ì
to Venus, the VOIR spacecraft would first be placed in a 185 ì
ì
by 11,800 mile (300 by 19,000 kilometers) orbit for a two ì
ì
month gravity study of the planet.
The craft's orbit would then be circularized at 185 ì
ì
miles (300 kilometers) for a 120 day radar mapping sequence, ì
ì
which would cover nearly all the surface of Venus at low ì
ì
resolution (.6 miles or 1 kilometer) and about 2 1/2 percent ì
ì
at high resolution (328 feet or 100 meters).
The primary mapping instrument aboard the VOIR ì
ì
spacecraft will be a side-looking synthetic aperture radar
(SAR) similar to one flown in 1978 aboard NASA's experimental
oceanographic satellite, Seasat.
#916 12/12/79 (a) #####