Pioneer Venus Orbiter

Pioneer Venus Orbiter

Spacecraft· NASAcompleted

Pioneer Venus Orbiter (Pioneer 12) — the first long-duration Venus orbiter (arrived 4 December 1978). Over fourteen years it radar-mapped 93% of the surface, produced the first near-global map of Venus, and its ultraviolet camera revealed the fast-moving upper clouds. It ran out of propellant and burned up in the atmosphere in October 1992.

Open in 3D viewSee Pioneer Venus Orbiter in the live, interactive 3D map

Key facts

Distance from Sun
0.728 AU
Status
Completed
Launched
1978

Mission & specifications

Mission

Operator
NASA
Launched
May 20, 1978
Status
Completed

Trajectory

Distance from the Sun
0.728 AU
Distance from Earth
0.597 AU
Distance from Venus
713,082 km

Mission

The Pioneer Venus Orbiter was the first spacecraft to settle into a long stay around Venus, and it stayed far longer than anyone expected. Launched on 20 May 1978 and arriving on 4 December, it slipped into a stretched elliptical orbit that carried it low over the northern hemisphere and then far out into space each day. Over fourteen years it did what no craft had done before: its radar mapper pierced Venus's permanent cloud deck to chart 93 percent of the surface, producing the first near-global map of the planet's mountains, plains and vast volcanic lowlands. Its other instruments studied the super-rotating atmosphere, the ionosphere and the solar wind streaming past, and its ultraviolet camera captured the dark, fast-moving markings of the upper clouds, making Venus's ferocious winds visible for the first time. Built for an eight-month mission, it worked until 1992, when — its propellant finally exhausted — it slipped too low and burned up in the atmosphere it had studied for so long.

  1. 1978Bound for VenusLaunch

    An Atlas-Centaur sends the first long-duration Venus orbiter on its way.

  2. 1978Venus orbit insertionMilestone

    Enters a stretched elliptical orbit and begins radar-mapping the surface through the clouds.

  3. 1979Ultraviolet clouds imagedMilestone

    Its UV camera reveals the dark, fast-moving markings of Venus's super-rotating upper clouds.

  4. 1992Burns up in the atmosphereMission end

    After 14 years and a near-global map, its propellant runs out and it descends into the atmosphere it studied.

Images

The Pioneer Venus Orbiter — artist's concept, not a photograph
NASA (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons
Venus's upper clouds in ultraviolet, imaged by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter on 26 February 1979 — a real ultraviolet image
NASA (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

Images from open archives · credit shown per image