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The orbit of the Magellan spacecraft was circularized during a 70-day aerobraking phase, which ended on 3 August 1993. Shrinking the orbit apoapsis from 8467 km down to 541 km was required to obtain meaningful gravity science data at high and moderate latitudes. Aerobraking was the only way to reach this nearly-circular orbit, since the amount of propellant on board Magellan was at least an order...