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First Weather Satellite Launched 50 Years Ago
stinkbomb writes "Fifty years ago today, the world's first weather satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and opened a new and exciting dimension in weather forecasting. Top leaders from NOAA and NASA hailed the milestone as an example of their agencies' strong partnership and commitment to flying the best satellites today and beyond."
At the rate we are creating space junk, 50 years from now it would be nearly impossible for anyone to keep their bird flying up there safely.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I'm surprised the Soviets were not the first with a weather sat. They were pretty much ahead of the space game for several years after Sputnik. They took the first pics of the hidden side of the moon, for example. However, the US was catching up in space electronics pretty fast even though our rocket technology lagged for a while.
Table-ized A.I.
How many year more before we realize that its was a mistake ? Groundhog day
somethings are best left unsaid , I am one of those things
How are they able to send rockets to the past? Won't that change history?
Shut up, Eric Cartman.
Already by simply going to wikipedia you can learn that this is not the true first.
History
The first television image of Earth from space from the TIROS-1 weather satellite.
The first weather satellite, Vanguard 2, was launched on February 17, 1959. It was designed to measure cloud cover and resistance, but a poor axis of rotation kept it from collecting a notable amount of useful data.
The first weather satellite to be considered a success was TIROS-1, launched by NASA on 1 April 1960. TIROS operated for 78 days and proved to be much more successful than Vanguard 2. TIROS paved the way for the Nimbus program, whose technology and findings are the heritage of most of the Earth-observing satellites NASA and NOAA have launched since then.
So the first successful one? And who knows what the soviets did, US history has a tendency to ignore the rest of the world. Simple check, see whether helicopters have ejection seats. You might be surprised how many sources claim they don't. Then you know they are using a map where the rest of the world is labeled "Here be dragons".
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
If you don't like it, don't read the story.
I find it interesting myself, I personally don't keep track of every milestone of science & technology waiting to celebrate the day when it hits 10, 20, 50, etc, years.
Maybe you should start your own site that purely focus' on news.
Yeah, we all know how Scientific American's "50, 100, and 150 Years Ago" page detracts from the credibility of the magazine.
Crikes.
I put it to you that there are much less worthy articles on this site that actually do detract from Slashdot's credibility.
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BMO
..... that the average Joe Blow with a basic receiver and antenna and suitable software on his/her computer can pick up the weather pix for themselves. Go on you lazy bastards google it yourselves - "weather satellite receiver kit", "turnstile antenna", "weather satellite receiving antenna" - and get the gen from our favourite data company.
TIROS 1 was one of those major milestones that we take for granted today. With today's coverage via the GOES and POES (Polar Orbiting Environment Satellite, along with the older ESSA and NIMBUS satellite systems from the mid 1960's and 1970's) weather forecasting took a giant step forward from the late 1950's to today. Just as an example, take hurricane forecasting. Back in the 1950's and early 1960's, discovery of a hurricane forming would have been from a ship report in the Gulf of Mexico, reports from the Leeward Islands, or a Hurricane Hunter randomly coming across the storm during routine patrols. Once satellites were added into the mix, the discovery of the storm became easier with increased advance notice for populated areas. What used to be 12 hours warning for an area (New Orleans, Hurricane Betsy 1965) became 35 hours warning (New Orleans/Biloxi, Hurricane Katrina, 2005). This made a significant difference not only in being able forecast the movement of the storms, but also to get the warnings out to evacuate people and save lives.
The weather satellite is perhaps the best example of how our technology has improved our lifestyle overall.
...is that there is a direct correlation between the number of weather satellites and the global average temperature?
I knew it! Weather satellites are the cause of global wa^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hclimate change!
done.
For those of us who really only car about what is happening now, the data from these era of satellites is proving invaluable.The Nimbus II data is being reconstructed and is providing one of a kind data sets. For those in data recovery, this will provide a lifetime of work and significant results if one is able to get the funding.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
NASA has been collecting earth-observing data for five decades now, and in spite of the current wave of interest in climate related matters, little or no effort is put into examining this historical record. A small group of scientists within the US Geological Survey have heroically attempted to preserve this enormous treasure of historical climate data at a small data center in South Dakota. But hundreds of terabytes of irreplaceable data are at risk of being lost forever because no one seems to care. There are lobbyists galore for NEW satellite systems, but in many cases you might as well pour the data into a bit bucket, we spend billions of dollars collecting data, and pennies storing and analyzing it. Instead of relying on flawed computer models and bogus prognostications, the Global Warming debate could be based on real hard data, if anyone wanted to take the time to go look at it. http://eros.usgs.gov/#/About_Us
"Sic Semper Path of Least Resistance"
It launched 1-April. Did it really take the Mods two days to post this?
Mission: To provide products that consume time and energy as entertainingly as permitted by the laws of thermodynamics.
Dont' forget the whole historical Soviet Luna series of moon probes in the late 50's.
Table-ized A.I.