NASA’s Magellan spacecraft successfully began a crucial manoeuvre to shift
its orbit around Venus on 26 May by skipping across the uppermost layer of
the planet’s atmosphere. The spacecraft’s on-board rockets did not have
enough fuel to alter the orbit on their own.
By conducting the aero-braking manoeuvre repeatedly during the next 70 days,
Magellan will experience enough drag to reshape its orbit from a highly
elliptical one to a circular trajectory. From its new orbit, Magellan will
study Venus’s gravity field.
