Venus Climate Orbiter: Radio Science Bending Angle and Atmospheric Profiles

The VCO RS OCC data set contains products from the radio science experiment on the Venus Climate Orbiter (also known as PLANET-C and AKATSUKI). The data includes bending angle and temperature/pressure profiles of the Venusian atmosphere, stored in table format with associated PDS labels. The dataset is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was last updated on 2026-03 13.

Use Cases

• Modeling Venusian atmospheric structure based on radio occultation bending angle data.
• Analyzing temperature and pressure profiles for comparative planetary climatology.
• Validating atmospheric models using empirical radio science measurements.

Strengths

• Data originates from a dedicated space mission (Venus Climate Orbiter/PLANET-C/AKATSUKI).
• Includes derived atmospheric profiles (temperature/pressure) from radio occultation.
• Associated metadata are stored in the PDS (Planetary Data System) labels.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Acquired by the radio science experiment using an Ultra-Stable Oscillator onboard the Venus Climate Orbiter spacecraft.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 16:30:45.720253; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Venus