TIROS-1


TIROS-1 was the first successful low-Earth orbital weather satellite, and the first of a series of Television Infrared Observation Satellites.

Launch

The TIROS-1 spacecraft was launched by NASA and partners at 06:40 EST on 1 April 1960, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the United States. Mission partners were NASA, the U.S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory, RCA, the U.S. Weather Bureau, and the U.S. Naval Photographic Interpretation Center.

Program

The TIROS Program was NASA's first experimental step to determine if satellites could be useful in the study of the Earth. At that time, the effectiveness of satellite observations was still unproven. Since satellites were a new technology, the TIROS Program also tested various design issues for spacecraft: instruments, data and operational parameters. The goal was to improve satellite applications for Earth-bound decisions, such as "should we evacuate the coast because of the hurricane?".
The TIROS-1 Program's first priority was the development of a meteorological satellite information system. Weather forecasting was deemed the most promising application of space-based observations.
TIROS proved extremely successful, providing the first accurate weather forecasts based on data gathered from space. TIROS began continuous coverage of the Earth's weather in 1962, and was used by meteorologists worldwide. The program's success with many instrument types and orbital configurations led to the development of more sophisticated meteorological observation satellites.

Instruments

The two cameras for TIROS-1 were for the visible spectrum. The cameras were slow-scan, taking a half-second to record an image, but had a 1.5-millisecond shutter. One camera had a wide-angle lens with the other having a narrow-angle with corresponding image resolutions of 1.5 miles and 1000 feet. Also included were a horizon sensor and a sun sensor, both used for indicating the orientation of the satellite for the images.