The Magellan spacecraft started radar photography of surface of Venus on Sep 15, 1990, using wavelengths in the cm range. It used synthetic aperture radar to reveal details as small as 120 meters across, increasing previous resolution by a factor of 10. The five year Magellan project involved the mapping of the whole surface of Venus, much like Mariner 9 mapped Mars in 1971 and 1972.
The Magellan spacecraft started radar photography of surface of Venus on Sep 15, 1990, using wavelengths in the cm range. It used synthetic aperture radar to reveal details as small as 120 meters across, increasing previous resolution by a factor of 10. The five year Magellan project involved the mapping of the whole surface of Venus, much like Mariner 9 mapped Mars in 1971 and 1972.