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- The world's first operational weather satellite system was placed into service with the launching of the Environmental Satellite Services Administration (which in 1970 became the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA) satellites, ESSA-1, on February 3, 1966, and ESSA-2, on February 28, 1966. The objective of this program, called the TIROS Operational System (TOS), was to acquire global observational data routinely on a daily basis. This system consisted of a pair of ESSA satellites in sun synchronous (polar) orbit. The odd numbered satellites (ESSA-1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) utilized the Advanced Vidicon Camera System (AVCS) to obtain global imagery which were transmitted to the ESSA Command and Data Acquisition (CDA) stations at Wallops, Virginia, and Fairbanks, Alaska. The CDA stations relayed the data to the National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS), which later became the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), located in Suitland, Maryland, for processing and distribution to forecasting centers of the U.S. and other nations. The even numbered satellites (ESSA-2, 4, 6, and 8) were equipped with Automatic Picture Transmission (APT) TV cameras which transmitted television pictures directly to ground stations worldwide. The ESSA satellites operated in orbits at altitudes of approximately 1450 km. The second generation operational polar orbiting satellites started with the ITOS-1 (Improved TIROS Operational System) mission launched on January 23, 1970 which combined the joint capabilities of two ESSA spacecraft; essentially, the direct readout APT system and the global stored images of the AVCS. The second generation objectives were to provide improved operational Infrared (IR) and Visible (VIS) observations of Earth cloud cover for use in weather analysis and forecasting and also to provide solar proton and global heat data on a daily basis. ITOS-1 also carried an operational 2 channel Scanning Radiometer (SR) providing day and night radiometric data for immediate transmission as well as acquisition data stored for delayed transmission to CDA stations. With an Infrared 5 channel scanner, global observation of the Earth atmosphere and surface areas was available once every 12 hours. A second ITOS spacecraft, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite, NOAA-1, was launched on December 11, 1970. The ITOS system evolved further with the development of the ITOS-D satellites, NOAA-2, 3, 4, and 5 and were placed into orbit in 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1975, respectively. These had a new sensor complement to provide day and night imaging by means of the Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) along with the medium resolution Scanning Radiometer (SR). The Vertical Temperature Profile Radiometer (VTPR) for sounding the atmosphere and the Solar Proton Monitor (SPM) for measurements of solar proton and electron flux in the vicinity of the satellite were added. The first spacecraft in the third generation operational polar orbiting environmental satellite system was TIROS-N which was launched in 1978. The third generation objectives were to provide observations for the atmosphere, cloud cover, surface and near-surface. The TIROS-N type satellites that followed were NOAA-A (6), NOAA-B which failed to achieve useful orbit, NOAA-C (7), and NOAA-D. The TIROS-N system provided NOAA with the global meteorological and environmental data required for normal operations and for the experimental World Weather Watch (WWW) Program. The spacecraft had a new complement of data gathering instruments. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) provided day and night imaging in the Visible (VIS) and Infrared (IR), sea surface temperature (SST) determination, estimation of heat budget components, and identification of snow and sea ice. The TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) supplied improved estimates of the vertical structure of the atmosphere. The Data Collection System (DCS) gathered environmental data from fixed and moving platforms such as buoys and balloons, and transmitted the data to central stations for processing and relay to users. The Solar Environment Monitor (SEM) measured solar proton, electron, and alpha particle densities. The data collected were stored onboard the satellite for transmission to the NOAA central processing facility at Suitland, Maryland, through the Wallops and Fairbanks CDA stations. Satellite data also were transmitted in real time direct readout at VHF and S-band frequencies to remote stations worldwide. The Advanced TIROS-N (ATN) type satellites were NOAA-E (8), NOAA-F (9), NOAA-G (10), NOAA-H (11), NOAA-I (12), and NOAA-J (13), the latter two scheduled for launch in 1990 and 1991 respectively. The spacecraft was lengthened 0.5m and the solar array was enlarged to provide additional power. New systems were added starting with NOAA-8: the Search and Rescue (SAR) system; NOAA-9: the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) instruments and the Solar Backscatter UltraViolet (SBUV) radiometer; NOAA-10: ERBE instruments. For more information about the NOAA POES satellite series link to the ----------------- Entry taken from: Rao, P.K., S.J. Holmes, R.K. Anderson, J.S. Winston and P.E. Lehr, Weather Satellites: Systems, Data, and Environmental Applications, American Meteorological Society, Boston, 1990. ISBN 0-933876-66-1 Cornillon, P., A Guide to Environmental Satellite Data, University of Rhode Island Marine Technical Report 79, 1982. Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: NOAA POES Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Earth Observation Satellites Platform_Series_or_Entity: NOAA POES (Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites) Short_Name: NOAA POES Long_Name: NOAA Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites End_Group Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names Short_Name: NOAA POES End_Group Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments Short_Name: TOVS Short_Name: AVHRR End_Group Creation_Date: 2007-10-17 Online_Resource: http://www.oso.noaa.gov/poes/index.htm Sample_Image: http://www.oso.noaa.gov/poesstatus/images/poesSpacecraft.gif Group: Platform_Logistics Primary_Sponsor: NASA End_Group End_Group
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