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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 in Pasadena, ì
ì
California, has selected Martin Marietta Aerospace, Denver ì
ì
Division in Colorado and the Space and Communications Group, ì
ì
Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, California to conduct ì
ì
studies which could lead to development of an unmanned NASA ì
ì
spacecraft to make topographical radar maps of Venus in the ì
ì
mid-1980s.
When the $500,000 study contracts are completed ì
ì
next summer, one of the two companies may be chosen to ì
ì
develop the Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar spacecraft if the ì
ì
mission is approved by Congress.
Planned for a Space Shuttle Launching and five-ì
ì
month trip to Venus, the spacecraft would first be placed in ì
ì
a 300 by 19,000 kilometer (185 by 11,000 mile) Venutian orbit ì
ì
for a two-month gravity study of the planet.
The craft's orbit would then be circularized at 300 ì
ì
kilometers (185 miles) for a 120-day radar mapping sequence, ì
ì
which would cover nearly all the surface of Venus at low ì
ì
resolution, 1.0 kilometer (0.6 mile), and about 2.5 percent ì
ì
at high resolution, 100 meters (328 feet).
The primary mapping instrument aboard the ì
ì
spacecraft will be a side-looking synthetic aperture radar ì
ì
similar to one flown in 1978 aboard NASA's experimental ì
ì
oceanographic satellite, Seasat.
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#917
12/13/79 (b)