🚀 go-pugleaf

Forwarded from Doug Griffith, Magellan Project Manager

                         MAGELLAN STATUS REPORT
                            January 11, 1993

1.  The Magellan spacecraft continues to operate normally, orbiting
Venus 50 times per week 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.  Temperatures remain in the expected range.  Bay 7 which contains
the CDS (Command Data Subsystem), is at 46 degrees C with a cycle depth
of 4 degrees.  Transmitter B is at 49.2 degrees with a variation of 0.7
degrees.

3.  Attitude control continues to be precise.  All starcals (star
calibrations) over the weekend were successful with only one partial scan.

4.  Magellan has completed 6523 orbits; 887 so far in Cycle-4 which
will end on May 25, 1993.

5.  Following the end of Cycle-4, the Magellan mission will begin a
"Transition Experiment" in which the periapsis will be intentionally
lowered to allow the atmospheric drag to slow the spacecraft's
velocity.  This aerobraking maneuver will enable the mission planners
to circularize the orbit and gather high-resolution gravity data
closer to the poles of Venus.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     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.