🚀 go-pugleaf

Forwarded from Doug Griffith, Magellan Project Manager

                        MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                          December 29, 1992

1.  The Magellan spacecraft continues to operate normally, performing
a desat (desaturation of the reaction wheels) in each 3-hour orbit,
a starcal (star calibration) on every other orbit, and transmitting
a carrier signal (plus X-band telemetry) which is precisely tracked
by the DSN (Deep Space Network) stations to extract gravity data.

2.  On Sunday, December 20, the spacecraft performed two radio
occultation experiments.  As the spacecraft passed behind Venus (as
viewed from Earth), the S- and X-band signals were carefully monitored
at the DSS-14 station at Goldstone.

3.  Magellan performed a limb-tracking maneuver on both ingress and
egress.  In this way, the received signal passed through the
atmosphere of Venus as it was refracted around the limb.  S-band
communication was maintained through the entire period of occultation.
The X-band signal was tracked partway through both in entry and exit
portions of the occultations.

4.  Radio science investigators Dr. Paul Steffes of Georgia Tech, and
Dr. Jon Jenkins of the SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center,
expect the data to yield information on the thermal structure and
abundance of sulfuric acid vapor as well as average electron density
profiles of the Venus atmosphere.

5.  The spacecraft has completed 6426 orbits of Venus; 790 so far in
Cycle-4, which will end on May 25, 1993.  Cycle-4 is 43% complete.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Choose a job you love, and
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | you'll never have to work
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | a day in your life.