Chapter 6 — RADAR AND SATELLITE EQUIPMENT 



As progress continued, TIROS was superseded 

 early in 1966 by the TIROS Operational Satel- 

 lite (TOS) System. The satellites in the TOS 

 series are referred to as Environmental Survey 

 Satellites (ESSA) which was mentioned previously. 

 The TOS System provided nearly complete global 

 coverage daily, hence a near -continuous record, 

 since its initial launch. 



In January of 1970 the beginning of the second 

 decade of weather observation by the use of 

 meteorological satellites was inaugurated with 

 the successful launch of the Improved TIROS 

 Operational System (ITOS) satellite. Satellites 

 in this series are referred to as NOAA (Na- 

 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 



Tie ) X)S combines the proven technology 

 and sate ite hardware developed by the TIROS 

 and TOS 'stems and in addition contains sensors 

 developed through other NASA programs. As 

 a result, all sensors are placed on a single 

 satellite, instead of having a number of separate 

 satellites to accomplish the same purpose. The 

 ITOS system provides both day and night cloud 

 observations. 



More recently the Synchronous Meteorologi- 

 cal Satellite /Geostationary Operational Environ- 

 mental Satellite (SMS/GOES) and the Defense 

 Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) have 

 become operational providing the latest advances 

 in satellite meteorology. 



SATELLITES 



The following paragraphs will discuss briefly 

 the various operational satellites in use today 

 along with the equipment utilized by 

 NAVOCEANMET to track and acquire this valu- 

 able meteorological information. 



Sychronous Meteorological Satellite/ 

 Geostationary Operational Environmental 

 Satellite (SMS/GOES) 



This is the latest in a new series of geo- 

 stationary satellites to be placed in orbit for 

 meteorological data acquisition and relay. They 

 are operational descendents of the ATS which 

 clearly demonstrated that earth-synchronous 

 spacecraft have great value in observing en- 

 vironmental conditions. The satellites are in 

 orbits 22,300 miles above the equator and travel- 

 ing at speeds that keep them continuously above 

 the same spot on earth. This keeps the same 

 region always in view, and their sensors can 



watch the entire life cycles of storms and other 

 meteorological phenomena that could develop and 

 die without ever being observed by the polar- 

 orbiting satellites. 



Improved TIROS Operational System/ 

 National Oceanic Atmospheric 

 Administration (ITOS/NOAA) 



These satellites are under the control of the 

 National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS) 

 and carry three subsystems for acquiring data 

 which is stored on board the spacecraft and 

 also may be transmitted in real-time to local 

 readout stations. They are in a continuously 

 moving polar orbit. The three subsystems are, 

 the Scanning Radiometer (SR), the Very High 

 Resolution Radiometer (VHRR), and the Vertical 

 Temperature Profile Radiometer (VTPR). The 

 SR is used to provide APT services to the 

 numerous low-cost VHF ground receiving sta- 

 tions scattered throughout the world. The VHRR 

 provides High Resolution Picture Transmission 

 (HRPT), and the VTPR provides direct sounding 

 transmissions for atmospheric temperature pro- 

 filing. All three systems operate continuously 

 day and night. Only the SR system is in general 

 use, while the other systems are receivable 

 only at selected stations having the compatible 

 tracking and receiving equipment. 



Defense Meteorological Satellite 

 Program (DMSP) 



This is a relatively new satellite system 

 designed and used by the Air Force. Recently 

 its use has been adapted to the Navy's need 

 at selected stations that are assigned the AN/ 

 TMQ-29 or AN/SMQ-10 equipment for tracking. 

 The satellite provides high resolution data com- 

 parable to VHRR output along with the capability 

 of both stored and direct readouts. The equip- 

 ment used with the readout system is unclassified; 

 however, certain aspects of the spacecraft pay- 

 load system, and orbital operations remain 

 classified SECRET. 



GROUND EQUIPMENT 



Although several types of ground tracking 

 equipment may be encountered, such as the older 

 models AN/GKR-4 and AN/GKR-7, only the 

 more commonly used AN/SMQ-6(V) and the newer 

 AN/TMQ-29 and AN/SMQ-10 tracking sets are 

 discussed in the following paragraphs. 



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