Pioneer Venus: mission and targets
Data as of 2026-10-04
Dates declared by the archive
- Project start
- May 20, 1978
- Declared end
- October 7, 1992
The start the archive declares is the start of the project, not the launch, and an end it does not declare does not mean the mission is still running.
In Galaxy
Targets you can open in 3D:
A declared target is what the archive files the mission’s data under, not a record of observation.
Description published by the archive
The Pioneer Venus was launched on May 20, 1978. It had an orbiter and four probes that entered the atmosphere. One probe had even transmitted data from the surface. The bus that carried the orbiter and probes also had mass spectrometers to study the atmosphere. The orbiter lasted until August 1992.
Quoted in English, as the archive publishes it, read on October 4, 2026.
Source
Identifier in the archive, which is its citation: urn:nasa:pds:context:investigation:mission.pioneer_venus
NASA Planetary Data System, PDS Registry, investigation context products. Dates and targets read on September 29, 2026; how to cite the archive: https://pds.nasa.gov/datastandards/citing/