Venera 16
Venera 16 — Venera 15's twin radar mapper, in Venus orbit a day after it (11 October 1983), its orbit set about 4° apart so the pair could re-image any area. It was the last spacecraft named Venera.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- Lavochkin (USSR)
- Launched
- June 7, 1983
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.726 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 0.33 AU
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 12,321,320 km
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Venera 16 was Venera 15's twin, launched on 7 June 1983 and placed in orbit around Venus a day after it. Their orbits were set about 4° apart, so that an area could be imaged again if needed. Venera 16 moved into its working orbit on 2 November and full science began on 11 November. In June 1984 Venus passed behind the Sun as seen from Earth, and no transmissions were possible; afterwards Venera 16's orbit was turned back by 20° so it could map what had been missed. Together the two craft mapped the northern part of Venus. It was the last spacecraft to carry the Venera name; according to NASA's history Beyond Earth, its last contact was on 13 June 1985.
- 1983Venera 16 launches toward Venus on a Proton rocketLaunch
The second radar mapper sets out five days behind Venera 15.
A day after its twin, its orbit set about 4° apart.
- 1985Last contactMission end
The last spacecraft to carry the Venera name falls silent.
Images
No openly licensed image of Venera 16 or of a model of it has been found. The radar maps it made with Venera 15 are not yet in our gallery.