{
  "title": "Where spacecraft reached Venus: estimated positions on the planet, and the mission catalogue",
  "description": "Estimated positions where spacecraft reached Venus (landing sites, impact and descent points, a balloon fix and an orbiter's last measured position), each with what the point is, its source and any stated uncertainty, plus every page of the catalogue: missions, programmes and explainers.",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0",
  "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "citation": "azmth.space Venus mission catalogue",
  "docs": "https://azmth.space/venus/data",
  "catalog_verified": "2026-09-26",
  "newest_entry_verified": "2026-11-05",
  "methodology_version": 1,
  "temporal_coverage": "1967/1992",
  "frame": {
    "latitude": "planetocentric, degrees north",
    "longitude": "east-positive, 0 to 360 (also given as -180 to 180)",
    "prime_meridian": "the central peak of the crater Ariadne"
  },
  "counts": {
    "rows": 11,
    "with_coordinates": 11,
    "with_stated_uncertainty": 5,
    "by_point_kind": {
      "landing": 6,
      "impact": 1,
      "descent": 2,
      "balloon": 1,
      "orbit-decay": 1
    },
    "entries": 46,
    "mission_pages": 34,
    "explainers": 12
  },
  "notes": [
    "Every coordinate here is an estimate with its source stated. The positions come from tracking and descent data and from later re-plotting on Magellan radar maps; the best of them carry a stated radius of probable error (uncertainty_km), and the rest are figures whose method or frame their source did not publish. Read site_name and follow coordinate_source before using a row for anything that matters.",
    "Each row gives its source's figures as published. azmth has not converted them between rotation models or map frames.",
    "point_kind says what each point is (a landing, an impact, the end of a descent signal, a balloon fix or an orbiter's last measured position), and site_name says how good the fix is in the research's words: a landing circle centre, a published whole-degree position, a last measured position before contact was lost, a first radio fix.",
    "Pages are not spacecraft. One row per mission page: a page can cover two or more craft (Venera 13 and Venera 14 share one), and its row gives the first craft's position, so counting rows or pages is not counting spacecraft. Do not derive a success rate from row counts.",
    "Planetary sources state Venus longitude east-positive in 0 to 360. Both that and the -180 to 180 form are given, because mapping tools expect the latter."
  ],
  "columns": [
    {
      "name": "slug",
      "description": "Stable identifier, also the page URL segment."
    },
    {
      "name": "name",
      "description": "Page name as the catalogue presents it. One page can cover two or more craft."
    },
    {
      "name": "entity",
      "description": "Operating organisation or organisations."
    },
    {
      "name": "type",
      "description": "flyby, orbiter, atmospheric-probe, soft-lander, balloon, program or topic (an explainer page)."
    },
    {
      "name": "outcome",
      "description": "success, operating, ended, partial, failure, in-development, planned, cancelled or reference (an explainer page). \"ended\" means it succeeded and later stopped, which is distinct from failure. A probe that returned its data on the way down and was then crushed is a success on its own terms."
    },
    {
      "name": "era",
      "description": "Catalogue era grouping."
    },
    {
      "name": "latitude",
      "description": "Planetocentric latitude, degrees north, as the source gives it."
    },
    {
      "name": "longitude_east_360",
      "description": "East longitude 0 to 360, as every Venus source states it. The prime meridian runs through the central peak of the crater Ariadne."
    },
    {
      "name": "longitude_east_180",
      "description": "The same longitude as -180 to 180."
    },
    {
      "name": "uncertainty_km",
      "description": "Radius of probable error in km where the source of this exact position states one. Blank where the source states none; a blank does not mean the position is exact."
    },
    {
      "name": "point_kind",
      "description": "What the point is: landing (where a lander came down), impact (where a probe hit the surface), descent (where a descent capsule's signal ended on the way down), entry (where a craft entered the atmosphere), balloon (a balloon's position fix in the clouds), orbit-decay (an orbiter's last measured position before its orbit decayed). Blank where the research does not say."
    },
    {
      "name": "site_name",
      "description": "What the point is, and how good the fix is, in the research's words. Read this."
    },
    {
      "name": "coordinate_source",
      "description": "URL for the coordinate specifically."
    },
    {
      "name": "facts_checked",
      "description": "ISO date the entry was last verified."
    },
    {
      "name": "page",
      "description": "Canonical page for this entry."
    }
  ]
}