The next major mission was the Magellan spacecraft, which was an orbiter capable of mapping Venus by seeing through its opaque clouds with radar.

With no heat shield or parachute, the bus made upper atmospheric measurements with two instruments: The spacecraft operated down to an altitude of about 110 kilometres (68 mi) before disintegrating.

The large probe carried seven experiments, contained within a sealed spherical pressure vessel.

The science experiments were: This pressure vessel was encased in a nose cone and aft protective cover.

After deceleration from initial atmospheric entry at about 11.5 kilometers per second (7.1 mi/s) near the equator on the night side of Venus, a parachute was deployed at 67 kilometres (42 mi) altitude.

The science experiments were:[2] The radio signals from all four probes were also used to characterize the winds, turbulence, and propagation in the atmosphere.

[4] Below an altitude of 50 kilometres (31 mi) the temperatures measured by the four probes were identical to within a few degrees, between 448 and 459 °C (838 and 858 °F) on the surface; the ground pressure, between 86.2 and 94.5 bars (8,620 and 9,450 kPa).