Magellan

views updated Jun 11 2018

Magellan an American space probe, launched in 1989 to map the surface of Venus, using radar to penetrate the dense cloud cover, and was deliberately burned up in Venus's atmosphere in 1994.

The probe was named for the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (c.1480–1521), whose expedition of 1519–22 was the first to circumnavigate the globe, although Magellan himself was killed in a skirmish before completing the journey.

Magellan

views updated May 08 2018

Magellan A radar mapper, launched by NASA in 1989 to explore Venus.

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