TIROS 1
TIROS I stands for "Television Infrared Observation Satellite." Because it was launched during the very early days of space innovation, TIROS I was an experiment to see if satellite imagery could be used to see Earth from space.
Click through the image carousel to see images of TIROS I from NASA and the National Air and Space Museum.
When was TIROS I launched?
TIROS 1 was launched in April 1960 and operated for 78 days (3 months).
What was TIROS I's mission?
TIROS I was an experiment to see if satellites could be used to study Earth. Scientists hoped that by place communication satellites with cameras in space, they could be used to forecast the weather and help people make important weather-based decisions such as, "will this storm be strong enough that we need to evacuate?"
This satellite had two cameras and five antennas that it used to take photographs from space and send them back to scientists and weather forecasters on Earth. During the three months it was active, TIROS 1 sent thousands of pictures of the cloud-covered Earth back to analysts on the surface.
What was special about TIROS I?
TIROS I was the world's first weather satellite! By taking pictures of large areas of the Earth, this satellite allowed weather forecasters and scientists to see weather systems like hurricanes as they formed and travelled. TIROS I proved that satellites could provide useful images of the Earth and aid in predicting weather.
What did we learn from TIROS I's time in space?
TIROS I helped scientists learn about how cloud systems form and move from space, and proved that taking pictures of the Earth from space was possible. TIROS I launched the civilian satellite programs that make space-based weather forecasting commonplace today.
First Image from Space!
On April 1, 1960, TIROS I captured the first picture of the Earth from Space, and sent it back to scientists waiting on the ground. This picture proved that satellites could successfully take and send images from space.
What can we see in this picture that we couldn't see from Earth?
In this picture, we can see the shape of continents and how cloud and weather systems formed from above in ways that weren't possible on Earth during the 1960s. Although the image looks very blurry to us, it was a massive technological breakthrough!
What does this picture tell us about the Earth's terrain?
As a weather satellite, TIROS I tells us more about wide areas of land than it does about specific geological features. Still, images from TIROS I advanced our knowledge of how the Earth and atmosphere looked, and how they interacted with each other.
This grid shows several images from TIROS I's 44th rotation around the Earth. In these pictures, the dark areas are water, and the lighter areas are continents. The very lightest areas are cloud cover. These pictures include images of the Arabian Peninsula and Northern Africa as TIROS I passed over them. Frame 6 shows a particularly clear view of the Northern coast of Northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Photo Credit: NASA