Dec 12 1984
From The Space Library
NASA launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard an Air Force Atlas launch vehicle NOAA-9, a 3,775-pound Advanced Tiros-N spacecraft that also carried search-and-rescue equipment. The satellite was placed in a 540-statute-mile, circular, near-polar orbit with an inclination of 98.86° to the equator. Total orbital period was 102.12 minutes, with, an average of 72 minutes in sunlight and 30 minutes in the Earth's shadow. Because the Earth rotated 25.59 ° beneath the orbiting spacecraft during each orbit, the satellite would observe a different portion of Earth's surface with sufficient overlap from orbit to orbit. NOAA satellites collected meteorological readings and transmitted the data directly to users around the world for local weather analysis and forecasting. Information from the satellites was also used for hurricane tracking and warnings, agriculture, commercial fishing, forestry, maritime, and other industries. NOAA-9 was the latest in a series of RCA-built TIROS weather satellites dating back nearly 25 years to TIROS-1, launched on April 1, 1960. It was the 6th in the current series of 11 satellites developed to give scientists the most comprehensive meteorological and environmental information since the start of the nation's space program. The satellite cost $43.5 million; launch vehicle costs were $11.4 million.
NOAA-9 also carried the second set of Earth Radiation Budget Experiment instruments, an atmospheric experiment that would increase knowledge of Earth's climate and weather systems, particularly how climate was affected by radiation from the Sun. (NASA MOR E-615-84-05 [prelaunch], Nov 5/84, NASA Mission Summary, Nov 8/84; NASA Release 84-150; LaRC Release 84-89)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
