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Meteosat-8
Meteosat 8 was a weather satellite, also known as MSG 1. The Meteosat series are operated by EUMETSAT under the Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP) and the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) program. Notable for imaging the first meteor to be predicted to strike the Earth, 2008 TC3. Launched 28 Aug 2002 by an Ariane V155, this European Meteorology satellite is in a Geostationary orbit. While Meteosat 8 meteorological instruments are working, solid state power amplifier SSPA-C failed in October 2002. On 22 May 2007, the satellite experienced an unexpected orbit change. This was initially assessed as due to a hit by an unknown object, but that was later assessed not to be credible. The thermal protection was damaged at the same time as the orbit change. Subsequent investigation assessed the Meteosat-8 spinning spacecraft's orbit change due to the mass release of thermal covering whose attachment failed. Meteosat-8 is still operating, and as of April 2013 is providing a backup capa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meteosat Second Generation
The Meteosat series of satellites are geostationary meteorological satellites operated by EUMETSAT under the Meteosat Transition Programme (MTP) and the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) program. The MTP program was established to ensure the operational continuity between the end of the successful Meteosat Operational Programme in 1995 and Meteosat Second Generation (MSG), which came into operation at the start of 2004 using improved satellites. The MSG program will provide service until the MTG (Meteosat Third Generation) program takes over. __TOC__ First generation The first generation of Meteosat satellites, Meteosat-1 to Meteosat-7, provided continuous and reliable meteorological observations from space to a large user community. Meteosat-1 to -7 have all now retired. When operational, the Meteosat First Generation provided images every half-hour in three spectral channels (Visible, Infrared) and Water Vapour, via the Meteosat Visible and Infrared Imager (MVIRI) instrume ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weather Satellite
A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites are mainly of two types: polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously) or geostationary (hovering over the same spot on the equator). While primarily used to detect the development and movement of storm systems and other cloud patterns, meteorological satellites can also detect other phenomena such as city lights, fires, effects of pollution, auroras, sand and dust storms, snow cover, ice mapping, boundaries of ocean currents, and energy flows. Other types of environmental information are collected using weather satellites. Weather satellite images helped in monitoring the volcanic ash cloud from Mount St. Helens and activity from other volcanoes such as Mount Etna. Smoke from fires in the western United States such as Colorado and Utah have also been monitored. El Niño and its effects on wea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by the Southern Ocean or Antarctica, depending on the definition in use. The Indian Ocean has large marginal or regional seas, including the Andaman Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Laccadive Sea. Geologically, the Indian Ocean is the youngest of the oceans, and it has distinct features such as narrow continental shelf, continental shelves. Its average depth is 3,741 m. It is the warmest ocean, with a significant impact on global climate due to its interaction with the atmosphere. Its waters are affected by the Indian Ocean Walker circulation, resulting in unique oceanic currents and upwelling patterns. The Indian Ocean is ecologically diverse, with important ecosystems such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sun Sensor
A Sun sensor is a navigational instrument used by spacecraft to detect the position of the Sun. Sun sensors are used for Spacecraft attitude control, attitude control, solar array pointing, gyroscope, gyro updating, and safe mode (spacecraft), fail-safe recovery. In addition to spacecraft, Sun sensors find use in ground-based weather stations and Sun-tracking systems, and aerial vehicles including Balloon (aeronautics), balloons and Unmanned aerial vehicle, UAVs. Mechanism There are various types of Sun sensors, which differ in their technology and performance characteristics. Sun presence sensors provide a binary number, binary output, indicating when the Sun is within the sensor's field of view. Analog electronics, Analog and digital electronics, digital Sun sensors, in contrast, indicate the angle of the Sun by continuous and discrete signal outputs, respectively. In typical Sun sensors, a thin slit at the top of a rectangular chamber allows a line of light to fall on an array ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ariane V155
Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), low Earth orbit (LEO) or further into space. The launch vehicle had a streak of 82 consecutive successful launches between 9 April 2003 and 12 December 2017. Since 2014, Ariane 6, a direct successor system, first launched in 2024. The system was designed as an expendable launch vehicle by the ''Centre national d'études spatiales'' (CNES), the French government's space agency, in cooperation with various European partners. Despite not being a direct derivative of its predecessor launch vehicle program, it was classified as part of the Ariane rocket family. Aérospatiale, and later ArianeGroup, was the prime contractor for the manufacturing of the vehicles, leading a multi-country consortium of other European contra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2008 TC3
( Catalina Sky Survey temporary designation 8TA9D69) was an , diameter asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere on October 7, 2008. It exploded at an estimated above the Nubian Desert in Sudan. Some 600 meteorites, weighing a total of , were recovered; many of these belonged to a rare type known as ureilites, which contain, among other minerals, nanodiamonds. It was the first time that an asteroid impact had been predicted before its entry into the atmosphere as a meteor. Discovery The asteroid was discovered by Richard A. Kowalski at the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) 1.5-meter telescope at Mount Lemmon, north of Tucson, Arizona, US, on October 6, 06:39 UTC, 19 hours before the impact. It was notable as the first such body to be observed and tracked prior to reaching Earth. The process of detecting and tracking a near-Earth object, an effort sometimes referred to as Spaceguard, was put to the test. In total, 586 astrometric and almost as many photometric obs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geostationary Orbit
A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous orbit in altitude above Earth's equator, in radius from Earth's center, and following the retrograde and prograde motion, direction of Earth's rotation. An object in such an orbit has an orbital period equal to Earth's rotational period, one sidereal time, sidereal day, and so to ground observers it appears motionless, in a fixed position in the sky. The concept of a geostationary orbit was popularised by the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke in the 1940s as a way to revolutionise telecommunications, and the first satellite to be placed in this kind of orbit was launched in 1963. Communications satellites are often placed in a geostationary orbit so that Earth-based satellite dish, satellite antennas do not have to rotate to track t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EUMETSAT
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States. EUMETSAT's primary objective is to establish, maintain and exploit European systems of operational meteorological satellites. EUMETSAT is responsible for the launch and operation of the satellites and for delivering satellite data to end-users as well as contributing to the operational monitoring of climate and the detection of global climate changes. The activities of EUMETSAT contribute to a global meteorological satellite observing system coordinated with other space-faring states. Satellite observations are an essential input to numerical weather prediction systems and also assist the human forecaster in the diagnosis of potentially hazardous weather developments. Of growing importance is the capacity of weather satellites to gather long-term measure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geocentric Orbit
A geocentric orbit, Earth-centered orbit, or Earth orbit involves any object orbiting Earth, such as the Moon or artificial satellites. In 1997, NASA estimated there were approximately 2,465 artificial satellite payloads orbiting Earth and 6,216 pieces of space debris as tracked by the Goddard Space Flight Center. More than 16,291 objects previously launched have undergone orbital decay and entered Earth's atmosphere. A spacecraft enters orbit when its centripetal acceleration due to gravity is less than or equal to the centrifugal acceleration due to the horizontal component of its velocity. For a low Earth orbit, this velocity is about ; by contrast, the fastest crewed airplane speed ever achieved (excluding speeds achieved by deorbiting spacecraft) was in 1967 by the North American X-15. The energy required to reach Earth orbital velocity at an altitude of is about 36 MJ/kg, which is six times the energy needed merely to climb to the corresponding altitude. Spa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
