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Other Designations: TIROS Operational System. Class: Earth. Type: Weather. Nation: United States. Agency: ESSA, NASA, GSFC, NOAA. Manufacturer: RCA. TOS spacecraft marked the first operational system of US polar-orbiting meteorological satellites. TOS was a follow-on to the TIROS (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) series, and was itself followed by the ITOS (Improved TIROS) series, and later the NOAA series. TIROS spacecraft were developed by GSFC and managed by ESSA (Environmental Science Services Administration). The objective was to establish a global weather satellite system. The TOS spacecraft are also referred to as ESSA spacecraft. Spacecraft: Body mounted solar cells. Payload: TOS/ESSA spacecraft carried television cameras, APT (Automatic Picture Transmission) systems, and AVCS (Advanced Vidicon Camera System) instruments.
SpecificationTotal Length: 0.6 m. Maximum Diameter: 1.1 m. Total Mass: 140 kg.
TOS Chronology
02 October 1966
ESSA 3 Program: Tiros. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta E. Mass: 145 kg. Perigee: 1,384 km. Apogee: 1,483 km. Inclination: 101.0 deg. Environmental Survey Satellite 3; replace ESSA 1. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
26 January 1967
ESSA 4 Program: Tiros. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta E. Mass: 132 kg. Perigee: 1,323 km. Apogee: 1,437 km. Inclination: 102.0 deg. Replaced ESSA 2. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
20 April 1967
ESSA 5 Program: Tiros. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta E. Mass: 145 kg. Perigee: 1,352 km. Apogee: 1,419 km. Inclination: 102.0 deg. Replaced ESSA 3. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
10 November 1967
ESSA 6 Program: Tiros. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta E. Mass: 132 kg. Perigee: 1,406 km. Apogee: 1,482 km. Inclination: 102.2 deg. Returned cloud cover images. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
16 August 1968
ESSA 7 Program: Tiros. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta N. Mass: 145 kg. Perigee: 1,428 km. Apogee: 1,471 km. Inclination: 101.4 deg. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
15 December 1968
ESSA 8 Program: Tiros. Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Delta N. Mass: 132 kg. Perigee: 1,411 km. Apogee: 1,461 km. Inclination: 101.8 deg. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
26 February 1969
ESSA 9 Program: Tiros. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Delta E. Mass: 145 kg. Perigee: 1,422 km. Apogee: 1,503 km. Inclination: 101.4 deg. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
Bibliography:- 2 - McDowell, Jonathan, The United Nations Registry of Space Objects, Harvard University, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/un/un.html
- 6 - JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html
- 279 - McDowell, Jonathan, Launch Log, October 1998. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/launch.html
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Last update 12 March 2001.
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