Nov 1 1980
From The Space Library
OMB told Dr. Robert A. Frosch, NASA administrator, that President Carter concurred with NASA's request for a 1986 mission to make a detailed examination of the surface of Venus. Previously, both U.S. and Soviet probes had penetrated the planet's cloud cover to send data over a few minutes to several hours; Pioneer Venus returned data on the atmosphere, but none had given an idea of the surface. The President would request the necessary funds in his FY82 budget.
The Venus-orbiting imaging radar (VOIR) spacecraft, managed by JPL, weighing about 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds) at launch, and costing $500 to $600 million, would carry a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and other scientific instruments. Launched from the Space Shuttle in May or August of 1986, it would arrive at Venus in December 1986 and circle it for seven months in a 300-kilometer (180-mile) near-polar orbit, taking radar pictures and measuring atmosphere as well as surface. VOIR images should disclose the presence of continents, ocean basins, mountain chains, rift valleys, fault belts, or volcanoes, as well as nature and timing of plate-tectonic activity (continental drift) or the size and frequency of occurrence of impact craters. (NASA Release 80-166)
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