TIROS satellites eventually began continuous coverage in 1962 and enabled accurate worldwide weather forecasts and alerts. It was equipped with two TV cameras, and was operational for only 78 days but demonstrated the feasibility of monitoring planet Earth’s cloud cover and weather patterns from space. Launched into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 17A on April 1, 1960, at 11:40:09 UTC by a Thor Able II rocket, TIROS-1 performed normally until June 15, 1960, when an electrical power failure prevented further useful TV transmission. It was the first experimental step of NASA to determine if satellites could be useful in the study of the Earth. The Television InfraRed Observational Satellite 1 (TIROS-1) was the first weather satellite (see notes 1), the first of a series of Television Infrared Observation Satellites placed in low-Earth orbit. Related: The first footage of Earth from space – 1946 V2 Rocket TIROS-1, the first weather satellite The image below was the first image that TIROS-1 returned, the first television picture of Earth from space. Over its two-and-a-half-month lifespan, TIROS-1 returned 23,000 photos of the Earth, 19,000 of them usable for weather analysis. The first television picture of Earth from space The program’s success with many instrument types and orbital configurations lead to the development of more sophisticated meteorological observation satellites. TIROS began continuous coverage of the Earth’s weather in 1962 and was used by meteorologists worldwide. Since satellites were a new technology, at that time, the effectiveness of satellite observations was still unproven.īut, the TIROS program was extremely successful, providing the first accurate weather forecasts based on data gathered from space. The TIROS Program (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) was NASA’s first experimental step to determine if satellites could be useful in the study of the Earth. Today’s (April 1) story of what happened this day in Science, Technology, Astronomy, and Space Exploration history. International Space Station night pass from Seattle down to Baja, meteor at the 30th seconds
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