Eyes In The Sky: Satellites
Sixty-five years ago today, the first successful weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. TIROS-1 was an attempt to see if we Earthlings could learn anything useful from a weather satellite.
Turned out: We could. Several generations of technological wonders would follow.
Vanguard, Launched: Feb. 17, 1959
Only the seventh successful U.S. satellite launch.
WHAT IT DID: Instead of a camera, Vanguard 2 carried an “optical scanner” that would measure cloud density by detecting the amount of sunlight reflected from clouds. The scanners did this in 50- minute increments, which would be recorded on tape and then broadcast to the ground when the satellite was in range of a receiving station.
The experiment didn’t work so well because the spin of the satellite didn’t match up to the areas it was supposed to be scanning.
TOTAL LAUNCHED:
Just the one.
PROGRAM ACTIVE THROUGH: Vanguard 2 was shut down on schedule, after 19 days. But it’s still in orbit. It’s not expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere until 2259.
Tiros, Launched: April 1, 1960
Television Infrared, Observation Satellite
WHAT IT DID: TIROS was covered with 9,200 solar cells to generate enough power to run its two TV cameras. The satellite transmitted pictures back via four antennae.
This first mission was designed to last only 90 days. After 78 days, however, TIROS-1 suffered a failure of its electrical system. The dead satellite is still in orbit, 400 miles above the Earth.
TOTAL LAUNCHED: 10 before NASA upgraded the TIROS frame to create the ESSA satellite.
PROGRAM ACTIVE THROUGH: 1968
The first TV photo of Earth by TIROS-1
Nimbus, Launched: Aug. 28, 1964
WHAT IT DID: These satellites were launched into near-polar orbits. The Earth would revolve beneath the satellite as it orbited, maximizing the territory over which it flew. Nimbus had the ability to photograph the Earth in multiple wavelengths of light, allowing it to tell the difference between water vapor and liquid water in clouds, for example.
Nimbus could also detect the amount of solar radiation entering and leaving the atmosphere, allowing it to take measurements for what would later come to be called global warming. The Landsat satellites of the 1970s were direct descendants of the Nimbus program.
TOTAL LAUNCHED: Seven from 1964 and 1978.
PROGRAM ACTIVE THROUGH: 1994
Essa, Launched: Feb. 3, 1966
Environmental Science Services Administration satellite
WHAT IT DID: These were essentially advanced TIROS satellites, upgraded with better cameras and faster transmitters. Each orbited the Earth once every 90 minutes, carefully timed so it could photograph the same spot at the same time every day.
TOTAL LAUNCHED: Nine over three years. ESSA 1 operated only eight months before its camera system failed. Like the other ESSA satellites, it’s still in Earth’s orbit.
PROGRAM ACTIVE THROUGH: June 1968. Even more advanced models of the same basic design were launched as late as 2009.
In 1970, the Environmental Science Services Administration would be reorganized into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.
ATS, Launched: Dec. 7, 1966
Applications Technology Satellite
WHAT IT DID: This was one of the first satellites to fly in an equatorial synchronous orbit — in other words, it orbited the Earth at the same rate at which the Earth rotates, allowing it to stay above the same spot on the surface. It also had the ability to send video sequences of cloud patterns and storm development.
But all this was the ATS’ side job. Its primary function was to serve as a communications satellite. In fact, ATS-1 would assist in broadcasting a June 1967 BBC program “Our World” that featured the debut of the Beatles’ new song “All You Need is Love” on live television.
TOTAL LAUNCHED: Six from 1966 and 1974, but two failed to reach their proper orbit.
PROGRAM ACTIVE THROUGH: 1978
SMS, Launched: May 17, 1974
Synchronous Meterological Satellite
WHAT IT DID: These carried more highly developed cameras — including ones that could use infrared wavelengths to measure cloud cover at night.
The SMS also acted as a communications relay to retransmit data from remote weather platforms to central weather facilities.
TOTAL LAUNCHED: Two — one each in 1974 and 1975.
The first GOES satellite was originally designated SMS-C.
GOES satellites 1 though 3 were updated versions of the SMS.
GOES
Geostationary Operational Enviornmental Satellite
GOES-1 Launched: Oct. 16, 1976, GOES-13 Launched: May 24, 2006 and GOES-16 Launched: Nov. 19, 2016
PROGRAM ACTIVE THROUGH: Three are still active today, plus a handful have been retired and repurposed for other tasks. GOES satellite program is expected to be operational through 2036.
WHAT THEY DO: From a geostationary orbit 22,240 miles above the Earth — in which the satellite keeps the same relative position over one spot on the ground — GOES makes high-resolution color video and still photography of the Earth and updates those images every five minutes. GOES satellites are now in their third generation.
TOTAL LAUNCHED: 19 so far, but one was struck by lightning after launch and failed to make it to orbit. The most recent, GOES-19, was launched in June 2024. Thirteen of the GOES satellites have been retired.
TO SEE THE LATEST PHOTOS AND VIDEO LOOPS: It’s all available for use for free: star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes
Photo of the West Coast, as seen from GOES-18