Since Venus is approximately the same size as the Earth (6051 km versus 6378 km radius for the Earth) and its mass is only 23% smaller, its surface gravity is 887 cm s−2. It is the variations about this mean gravitational value that interest the navigation engineer and the geophysicist, for the gravitational irregularity will greatly influence the lifetime of an orbiting spacecraft and the internal structure models that can be inferred. These variations are commonly called the Venus gravitational field. The gravitational field is measured from the reduction of radio Doppler data from the orbiting spacecraft Pioneer Venus Orbiter (1979–1992) and Magellan (1990–1994).
The contours of gravity, shown on Figure V29, are in milligals (1000 milligals = 1 cm s−2). There is a very high correlation of gravity highs with topographic highs and similarly with the lows (Plate 7). This correlation is the largest of any observed terrestrial body (Earth, Mars and the Moon) and is the primary...
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Sjogren, W.L. (1997). Venus: Gravity . In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4520-4_439
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