Program: Tiros

USA

Television and Infra Red Observation Satellite

American meteorological program

In 1960, Tiros 1, the first true weather satellite, was launched. With each succeeding generation of satellites, remote sensing instruments became increasingly sophisticated and today's high quality pictures are a far cry from the first tentative trials.

TIROS was a simple hatbox-shaped craft carrying special television cameras that viewed Earth's cloud cover from a 450 mile orbit. The pictures radioed back to Earth provided meteorologists with a new tool - a nephanalysis, or cloud chart.

By 1965, nine more TIROS satellites were launched. They had progressively longer operational times, carried infrared radiometers to study Earth's heat distribution, and several were placed in polar orbits to increase picture coverage over the first TIROS in its near-equatorial orbit.

TIROS 8 had the first Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) equipment that allowed pictures to be sent back right after they were taken instead of having to be stored for later transmission. Eventually, APT pictures could be received on fairly simple ground stations anywhere in the world, even in high school classrooms.

TIROS 9 and 10 were test satellites of improved configurations for the Tiros Operational Satellite (TOS) system. Operational use started in 1966. In orbit, the TOS satellites were called ESSA. TOS satellites were placed in Sun-synchronous orbits, so they passed over the same position on Earth's surface at exactly the same time each day; this allowed meteorologists to view local cloud changes on a 24-hour basis.

Several ITOS (for Improved TOS satellites) have been launched since 1970 and are the workhorses of the meteorologists. In orbit they are called NOAA for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration which is responsible for their operation.

List of launches:

TIROS spacecraft were the beginning of a long series of polar-orbiting meteorological satellites. TIROS was followed by the TOS (TIROS Operational System) series, and then the ITOS (Improved TIROS) series, and later the NOAA series. TIROS spacecraft were developed by GSFC and managed by ESSA (Environmental Science Services Administration). The objective was to establish a global weather satellite system. Major Events: .

01 April 1960 Tiros 1 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 120 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Thor Able . Summary: TV and Infrared Observation Satellite; returned 22952 cloud cover photos. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
23 November 1960 Tiros 2 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 130 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
12 July 1961 Tiros 3 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 129 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
28 September 1961 Tiros 2 rocket test. Summary: Pair of spinup rockets on Tiros II successfully fired after more than 10 months in orbit.
08 February 1962 Tiros 4 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 129 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta . Summary: Returned 32593 cloud cover photos. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
19 June 1962 Tiros 5 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 129 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta . Summary: Returned 58226 cloud cover images. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
18 September 1962 Tiros 6 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 127 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta . Summary: Returned 66674 cloud cover images. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
19 June 1963 Tiros 7 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 135 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta B . Summary: Returned over 150000 cloud cover images. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
21 December 1963 Tiros 8 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 119 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta B . Summary: Returned more than 100,000 cloud cover images. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
22 January 1965 Tiros 9 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 138 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta C . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
02 July 1965 Tiros 10 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 127 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta C . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
03 February 1966 ESSA 1 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 138 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta C . Summary: Environmental Survey Satellite. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
28 February 1966 ESSA 2 Spacecraft: Tiros. Mass: 132 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta E . Summary: Environmental Survey Satellite; carried APT cameras. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
02 October 1966 ESSA 3 Spacecraft: TOS. Mass: 145 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta E . Summary: Environmental Survey Satellite 3; replace ESSA 1. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
26 January 1967 ESSA 4 Spacecraft: TOS. Mass: 132 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta E . Summary: Replaced ESSA 2. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
20 April 1967 ESSA 5 Spacecraft: TOS. Mass: 145 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta E . Summary: Replaced ESSA 3. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
10 November 1967 ESSA 6 Spacecraft: TOS. Mass: 132 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta E . Summary: Returned cloud cover images. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
16 August 1968 ESSA 7 Spacecraft: TOS. Mass: 145 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta N . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
15 December 1968 ESSA 8 Spacecraft: TOS. Mass: 132 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta N .Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
26 February 1969 ESSA 9 Spacecraft: TOS. Mass: 145 kg. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta E . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
23 January 1970 ITOS 1 Spacecraft: ITOS. Mass: 309 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta N . Summary: Improved TIROS Operational Satellite. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
11 December 1970 NOAA 1 Spacecraft: ITOS. Mass: 306 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta N . Summary: Built for NASA; operated by NOAA. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
11 December 1970 CEPE Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta N .
21 October 1971 ITOS B Spacecraft: ITOS. Mass: 308 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta N . Summary: Unusable orbit. Spent boosters, spent maneuvering stages, shrouds and other non-functional objects (US Cat D).
15 October 1972 NOAA 2 Spacecraft: ITOS. Mass: 344 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta 100 . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
16 July 1973 ITOS E Spacecraft: ITOS. Mass: 345 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta 100 . Summary: Improved TIROS Operational System.
06 November 1973 NOAA 3 Spacecraft: ITOS. Mass: 345 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta 100 . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
15 November 1974 NOAA 4 Spacecraft: ITOS. Mass: 340 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta 2914 . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
29 July 1976 NOAA 5 Spacecraft: ITOS. Mass: 340 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta 2914 . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
13 October 1978 Tiros N Spacecraft: Tiros N. Mass: 734 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas F .Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
27 June 1979 NOAA 6 Spacecraft: Tiros N. Mass: 723 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas F . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
29 May 1980 NOAA B Spacecraft: Tiros N. Mass: 1,405 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas F .Summary: Unusable orbit; would have been NOAA 7. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
23 June 1981 NOAA 7 Spacecraft: Tiros N. Mass: 1,405 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas F . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
28 March 1983 NOAA 8 Spacecraft: Advanced Tiros N. Mass: 3,775 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas E . Summary: Carried search and rescue package. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). .
12 December 1984 NOAA 9 Spacecraft: Advanced Tiros N. Mass: 1,712 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas E . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). .
17 September 1986 NOAA 10 Spacecraft: Advanced Tiros N. Mass: 1,700 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas E . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). .
24 September 1988 NOAA 11 Spacecraft: Advanced Tiros N. Mass: 1,712 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas E . Summary: Carried search & rescue package. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). .
14 May 1991 NOAA 12 Spacecraft: Tiros N. Mass: 1,416 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas E . Summary: Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B). .
09 August 1993 NOAA 13 Spacecraft: Advanced Tiros N. Mass: 1,712 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas E .More details Summary: Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). .
30 December 1994 NOAA 14 Spacecraft: Advanced Tiros N. Mass: 1,712 kg. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Atlas E .
13 May 1998 NOAA 15 Spacecraft: Advanced Tiros N . Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Titan 2 .
NOAA K carried a new microwave sensor in addition to the standard optical/near-infrared radiometers and imagers and the SARSAT search and rescue package. It was the first NOAA launch to use the Titan 23G launch vehicle, a refurbished ICBM. Titan 23G-12 placed NOAA K into a suborbital trajectory 6 minutes after launch. A Star 37XFP solid motor on the satellite fired at apogee to put NOAA K in orbit.

Ref: #8, #15 - update: 03.11.10