JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Prior to the launch of the first weather satellite, getting current weather information involved looking at the sky and interpreting what you saw.
However, at the turn of the 20th century, mass communication allowed those observations to be shared over a wide area. Yet still, remote locations and over oceans were left with very limited data.
That is until TIROS-1 (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) came into the picture. It was launched 78 years ago on April 1 from Cape Canaveral via a Thor-able rocket.
The satellite only operated for 78 days, but during that time it gave us our first images of what cloud cover looked like on earth from space while transmitting back 23,000 pictures.
The satellite orbited 450 miles above earth and could only send back a few images when the satellite was in range of two specific facilities. It took hours to days to send back these images (in very low quality as well) but it set the groundwork for the modern satellite program in the United States and gave us a big leap forward in forecasting.
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In today’s world where getting weather information takes only seconds on your smartphone, it’s nice to look back at some of the pioneers that made that possible.