Venera 15
Venera 15 — a Soviet radar mapper (in Venus orbit 10 October 1983). With its twin Venera 16 it looked through the clouds with side-looking radar and mapped the northern part of Venus, from the pole down to about 30° N, at 1–2 km resolution. Last contact was on 5 January 1985.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- Lavochkin (USSR)
- Launched
- June 2, 1983
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.726 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 0.373 AU
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.181 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Venera 15 and its twin Venera 16 turned the Venera programme from landing to mapping. Each carried a side-looking radar with a 6-metre dish that could see through the permanent clouds, and a radio altimeter to measure heights. Launched on 2 June 1983, Venera 15 entered a near-polar orbit around Venus on 10 October; radar mapping began on 16 October. With Venera 16 a day behind, the pair covered the planet from the north pole down to about 30° N at a resolution of one to two kilometres over eight months, the first detailed radar images of Venus from orbit. They finished the planned mapping on 10 July 1984 and went on with extended science. By 30 December 1984 Venera 15's attitude-control propellant was gone, and the last contact was on 5 January 1985.
- 1983Venera 15 launches toward Venus on a Proton rocketLaunch
The first of two Soviet radar mappers sets out.
A near-polar orbit; radar mapping begins on 16 October.
- 1984Northern Venus mappedMilestone
With Venera 16, from the north pole to about 30° N.
- 1985Last contactMission end
Its attitude-control propellant had run out days before.
Images
No openly licensed image of Venera 15 or of a model of it has been found. The radar maps it made with Venera 16 are not yet in our gallery.