Apr 1, 2008 1:08 pm US/Eastern
April 1 Weather Trivia Answer
Poll
Launched on this date in 1960, the first weather satellite was called...
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Launched on this date in 1960, the first weather satellite was called...
Correct answer: a) Tiros
Tiros1 was the first successful weather satellite and the first of a series of Television Infrared Observation Satellites. It was launched at 6:40 am on April 1, 1960 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was designed to test experimental techniques for taking television footage of weather patterns from an almost circular orbit, at an altitude ranging from 435 to 468 miles. Though operational for only 78 days, it was vastly more successful than Vanguard 2 in demonstrating that satellites were useful for surveying atmospheric conditions from space and in sending back 22,952 images. Tiros 1 was 19 inches tall and 42 inches in diameter. Two television cameras were housed in the 270 pounds craft, along with two magnetic tape recorders which could be used to store photographs when the satellite was out of communications range. Power was supplied by onboard batteries, charged by 9200 solar cells.
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