TIROS 6 (also called TIROS-F) was a spin-stabilized

meteorological 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 asyn ...

. It was the sixth 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 ...

Launch

TIROS 6 was launched on September 18, 1962, 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 Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

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. The spacecraft functioned nominally until October 21, 1962. The satellite orbited the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

once every 1 hour and 38 minutes, at an inclination of 58.3°. 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 .

Mission

TIROS 6 was designed to further demonstrate the capability of a

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

to observe, record, and transmit TV

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 ...

pictures An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be displayed through other media, including a project ...

for use in operational weather analysis and forecasting. The spin-stabilized satellite was in the form of an 18-sided right prism, 107 cm across opposite corners and 56 cm high, with a reinforced baseplate carrying most of the subsystems and a cover assembly.

Electric energy Electrical energy is the energy transferred as electric charges move between points with different electric potential, that is, as they move across a potential difference. As electric potential is lost or gained, work is done changing the energy o ...

was supplied to the spacecraft by approximately 9000 1-by 2-cm

silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...

solar cell 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.

s mounted on the cover assembly and by 21 nickel-cadmium batteries. A single monopole antenna for reception of ground commands extended from the top of the cover assembly. A pair of crossed-dipole

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

antennas In radio-frequency engineering, an antenna (American English) or aerial (British English) is an electronic device that converts an alternating electric current into radio waves (transmitting), or radio waves into an electric current (receivi ...

(235

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) projected down and diagonally out from the baseplate. The satellite spin rate was maintained between 8 and 12 rpm by the use of five diametrically opposed pairs of small solid-fuel thrusters mounted around the edge of the baseplate. Proper attitude was maintained to within a 1° to 2° accuracy by use of a magnetic control device consisting of 250 cores of wire wound around the outer surface of the spacecraft. The interaction between the induced magnetic field in the spacecraft and the Earth's

magnetic field A magnetic field (sometimes called B-field) is a physical field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular ...

provided the necessary torque for attitude control. TIROS-6 was equipped with two 1.27-cm vidicon TV cameras, one medium angle and one wide angle, for taking Earth cloudcover pictures. The pictures were transmitted directly to either of two ground receiving stations or were stored in a tape recorder on board for subsequent playback, depending on whether the satellite was within or beyond the communication range of the station. TIROS-6 performed normally from launch until November 29, 1962, when the medium-angle camera

vidicon Video camera tubes are devices based on the cathode-ray tube that were used in television cameras to capture television images, prior to the introduction of charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors in the 1980s. Several different types of tubes ...

failed. The wide-angle camera vidicon system failed on October 21, 1963, and the spacecraft was deactivated shortly thereafter.

Gallery

File:Super Typhoon Karen.JPG, Super Typhoon Karen (Nov. 11, 1962). The eye of the storm is barely visible in the darker portion of the clouds. File:Extratropical cyclone by TIROS 6 (Dec. 29, 1962)-repair.jpg, Extratropical cyclone centered at 39 S, 101E in the Indian Ocean (Dec. 29, 1962) File:Sat19630810arlene.png, Hurricane Arlene (Aug. 10, 1963) File:TIROS VI storm vortex Spac0148-repair.jpg, A large storm vortex (1963) File:Spiraling cloud system imaged by TIROS 6-repair.jpg, A large spiraling cloud system (1963)

References

External links

Real Time Satellite Tracking - TIROS 6
N2yo.com. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiros-5 Derelict satellites orbiting Earth Weather satellites of the United States Spacecraft launched in 1962 Television Infrared Observation Satellites