Pioneer Venus Orbiter

Pioneer Venus Orbiter
Pioneer Venus Orbiter
Mission typeVenus orbiter
OperatorNASA / ARC
COSPAR ID1978-051A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.10911
WebsitePioneer Venus at NASA
Mission duration14 years, 4 months, 18 days (from launch)
13 years, 10 months, 4 days (at Venus)
Spacecraft properties
BusHS-507
ManufacturerHughes
Launch mass582 kg (1,283 lb) [1]
Dry mass517 kg (1,140 lb)
Dimensions2.5 × 1.2 m (8.2 × 3.9 ft)
Power312 watts
Start of mission
Launch dateMay 20, 1978, 13:13:00 (1978-05-20UTC13:13Z) UTC [1]
RocketAtlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR
Launch siteCape Canaveral LC-36A
End of mission
Last contactOctober 8, 1992, 19:22 (1992-10-08UTC19:23Z) UTC
Decay dateOctober 22, 1992[2]
Orbital parameters
Reference systemCytherocentric
Semi-major axis33,405.8 kilometres (20,757.4 mi)
Eccentricity0.842
Pericytherion altitude181.6 kilometers (112.8 mi)
Apocytherion altitude66,630 kilometers (41,400 mi)
Inclination105 degrees
Period24 hours
Epoch22 November 1979, 11:53:20 UTC[3]
Venus orbiter
Orbital insertionDecember 4, 1978
 

The Pioneer Venus Orbiter, also known as Pioneer Venus 1 or Pioneer 12, was a mission to Venus conducted by NASA as part of the Pioneer Venus project. Launched in May 1978 atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket, the spacecraft was inserted into an elliptical orbit around Venus on December 4, 1978. It returned data from Venus until October 1992.[2][4]

  1. ^ a b "Pioneer Venus Orbiter/Pioneer Venus 1/Pioneer 12". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  2. ^ a b McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Archived from the original on 2003-10-11.
  3. ^ "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Trajectory Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference pv1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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