TIROS-1 (or TIROS-A) was the first operational weather satellite, the first of a series of Television Infrared Observation Satellites (TIROS) placed in low Earth orbit.

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?".

Over its -month lifespan, TIROS 1 returned 23,000 photos of the Earth, 19,000 of them usable for weather analysis. For the first time, it was possible to view large scale cloud patterns in their totality, and from this, identify storm regions. The satellite provided the first long-term observations of a developing storm from orbit, tracking the disintegration of a large cyclonic mass off the coast of Bermuda over the course of four days. In addition, TIROS 1 returned data on smaller scale structures such as tornadoes and jet streams, and findings returned from the satellite complemented and enhanced ground-based findings.

TIROS 1 performed normally from launch until June 15, 1960, when an electrical power failure prevented further useful TV transmission.<gallery>

File:TIROS 1 Launch1.jpg|Thor-Able launching TIROS 1

File:TIROS-1-Earth.png|TIROS I wide-angle image taken on April 1, 1960 (one of the first TV images of Earth from space)

File:TIROS I image Spac0102-repair.jpg|TIROS I image showing a cyclone in South Atlantic, taken on April 28, 1960

File:A square cloud close to the Oklahoma-Texas border (2268-80).jpg|TIROS I image showing an apparently square cloud and a cloud system which enlarged bringing hailstones and tornadoes to central Oklahoma (May 2, 1960)

File:Surface weather map of Pacific frontal storm derived from TIROS I data (2268-84).jpg|Surface weather map of Pacific frontal storm derived from TIROS I data (May 19, 1960)

File:Experience with TIROS showed that bright clouds with relatively well-defined edges and isolated from a main cloud mass, could be indicators of severe weather (2282-47).jpg|TIROS I image showing bright clouds with relatively well-defined edges and isolated from a main cloud mass. Shortly after this photograph, the southernmost cloud spawned a tornado (May 27, 1960).

File:Archived tapes of telemetry data received from TIROS I (2268-132).jpg|Archived tapes of telemetry data received from TIROS I (June 1960)

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See also

  • First images of Earth from space

Notes

References

  • Track the current position of TIROS 1
  • TIROS &ndash; NASA Science
  • Final Report on the TIROS I Meteorological Satellite System
  • The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Exhibition List
  • TIROS 1 & 2 Ground Control Canter at Camp Evans - preserved by InfoAge Science History Center
  • Published story of how the first TIROS photo was flown by helicopter, then a jet from the Camp Evans Ground Control Center to NASA
  • TIROS I is Launched - NOAASIS
  • TIROS-1 50th Anniversary & Resources on Satellite Meteorology
  • NASA's YouTube video of TIROS-1