A rather broad survey is reported of the Venus radar orbiter possibilities within the period 1983-1990. Minimum mission imaging requirements have been set by comparison with the improving capabilities of earth based radar systems and an examination of earth airborne radar imaging. This has led to a requirement for 80 percent coverage at a resolution of 100 m. A first main conclusion is that only the Shuttle-Centaur launch system would be capable of establishing a circular orbit under all possible launch conditions. Thus, orbit eccentricity has been introduced as a parameter throughout this presentation. An examination of typical radar designs has led to upper and lower limits on swath width of 100 and 50 km. A lower eccentricity of 0.2 was set by considering the current Viking propulsion system. An examination of solar perturbations indicates that orbit maintenance problems increase rapidly above an eccentricity of 0.5.
A preliminary analysis of a radar-mapping mission to Venus
1973-09-01
Report
No indication
English
Venus Orbital Imaging Radar mission analysis
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