TIROS-2 (or TIROS-B) was a spin-stabilized meteorological satellite. It was the second in a series of

Television Infrared Observation Satellite Television InfraRed Observation Satellite (TIROS) is a series of early weather satellites launched by the United States, beginning with TIROS-1 in 1960. TIROS was the first satellite that was capable of remote sensing of the Earth, enabling sc ...

s. It re-entered in May 2014.

Spacecraft

TIROS-2 was an 18-sided right prism, 107 cm in diameter and 56 cm high, with 9,260 1 by 2 cm silicon

solar cells A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell (PV cell), is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect.

covered the top and sides. Five small directly opposed pairs of solid-fuel thrusters maintained a spin of 8 to 12 rpm. For

attitude control Spacecraft attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of a spacecraft (vehicle or satellite) with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, ...

, the spacecraft used an infrared horizon sensor and a magnetic attitude control device, made of 250 cores of wire wound around the outer surface, which oriented the spin axis to a 1 to 2 degree accuracy. It also had a direction indicator for picture orientation. The satellite had two independent television camera subsystems, one low-resolution and one high-resolution, for taking pictures of

cloud cover Cloud cover (also known as cloudiness, cloudage, or cloud amount) refers to the fraction of the sky obscured by clouds on average when observed from a particular location. Okta is the usual unit for measurement of the cloud cover. The cloud c ...

. Each camera had a

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...

recorder for storing photographs while out of range of the

ground station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fr ...

network. It also had a five-channel medium-resolution scanning

radiometer A radiometer or roentgenometer is a device for measuring the radiant flux (power) of electromagnetic radiation. Generally, a radiometer is an infrared radiation detector or an ultraviolet detector. Microwave radiometers operate in the micro ...

and a two channel non-scanning low resolution radiometer for measuring radiation from the earth and atmosphere.

Launch

TIROS-2 was launched on November 23, 1960 at 11:13:03 UTC, by a

Thor-Delta The Thor-Delta, also known as Delta DM-19 or just Delta was an early American expendable launch system used for 12 orbital launches in the early 1960s. A derivative of the Thor-Able, it was a member of the Thor family of rockets, and the first ...

rocket from

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The spacecraft functioned nominally until January 22, 1962. The satellite orbited the Earth once every 98 minutes, at an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

of 48.5°. Its

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

was and

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

was . The spacecraft functioned nominally until January 22, 1961.

Instruments

TIROS 2 added two infrared radiometers to TIROS 1 instruments, which allowed more analysis of frontal zones.

Gallery

File:TOS path and product Spac0063.jpg, Graphic of TIROS-2 orbital path and examples of data products. File:TIROS 2 atop of launch vehicle 2.jpg, TIROS-2 satellite atop of a Delta rocket during a mock countdown on Pad 17A File:TIROS 2 atop of launch vehicle.jpg, TIROS-2 satellite atop of launch vehicle, under hangar roof File:Launch of TIROS II Spac0047-repair.jpg, Launch of TIROS-2 on November 23, 1960 File:1960-11-24 Tiros II Weatherman Satellite.webm,

Universal Newsreel Universal Newsreel (sometimes known as Universal-International Newsreel or just U-I Newsreel) was a series of 7- to 10-minute newsreels that were released twice a week between 1929 and 1967 by Universal Studios. A Universal publicity official, S ...

about the launching of the TIROS-2 satellite File:TIROS II Ice floes Spac0147-repair.jpg, Ice floes as seen in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence by TIROS-2 in March 1961 File:Map of TIROS II infrared Spac0080-repair.jpg, Map of TIROS II infrared imagery with accompanying cloud analysis

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiros-2 Weather satellites of the United States Spacecraft launched in 1960 Spacecraft which reentered in 2014 Television Infrared Observation Satellites