NOAA’s Environmental Satellite Program: Past, Present, and Future
Presented by Gary Davis, Director,
Office of Systems Development
NOAA/NESDIS/OSD
Fifty Years of Achievement
1

Space-Based Remote Sensors Changed Way We See
Our World
Explorer Launch GOES-12 East TIROS-1
NOAA-18
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• Traces back to the Department of Defense (DoD) rocket, sensor, and satellite development projects beginning the decade following World War II
• With little theory and very little experience available to guide these projects,
DoD development teams learned their space trade on the job, often resulting from analyses of catastrophic failures
• DoD developed instruments to measure atmospheric conditions that the rockets were encountering as they were propelled to then extraordinary altitudes
• Measurements recovered from salvaged recorders or from radio transmissions were the basis for meteorological satellites research
• Still cameras became part of the payload and recovered film depicted images of the Earth’s surface and cloud cover from space
Fifty Years of Achievement
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3 Nov 1957 Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2
7 Nov 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower named James
Killian, Special Assistant for Science and
Technology and Chairman of the President's
Science Advisory Committee
5 Mar 1958 Advisory Committee on Government Organization re-designated the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics (NACA) and approved to lead civil space President Eisenhower and James Killian
27 Mar 1958 Eisenhower approved plan for outer space exploration. Advanced Research Project
Agency (ARPA) designated to undertake several space projects.
2 Apr 1958 Eisenhower proposed establishment of NASA, into which NACA was absorbed, to perform space research for civilian and military programs
29 Jul 1958 The National Aeronautics and Space Act was signed (PL 85-568) established NASA
30 Jan 1964 Basic agreement between NASA and U.S. Weather Bureau created a National
Operational Meteorological Satellite System.
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• Research and development efforts to improve space capabilities and better data interpretation
• May 1961 – President Kennedy announces US intention to conduct an operational weather satellite programs day and night observations of global cloud cover
– open broadcasts of the information collected by the on-board sensors
– Broadcasts to be available for collection by any ground station in line of sight of the satellite without restriction on the collection and use or any requirement to pre-notify the United States
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“WAS”:
View of Earth from a camera on V-2 #13, launched
October 24, 1946
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“WAS”:
July 26, 1948
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“WAS”:
Sounding rocket launched at 1815 GMT on October 5, 1954 from White Sands, New Mexico
First Cyclone seen from space.
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Dr. Tetsuya “Ted” Fujita David Johnson Dr. Harry Wexler Professor Suomi
“Now the clouds move and not the satellite.”
Professor Suomi reaction to the images taken from the first spin scan cloud camera
Dr. Francis W. Reichelderfer,
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• Johnson directed ~ $75K to be used to built spin scan camera.
• Joint collaboration to “sell NASA to take the risk and fly the first camera on ATS-1!
• Handshake agreement between Suomi and Johnson moved 8 families to the Madison from the
Washington Lab.
• Johnson and Suomi justified the necessity of an “Inorbit backup” and “two-satellite system” in polar and geostationary orbits. (defense of the 1984 budget to
Congress)
Fifty Years of Achievement
Professor Suomi
David Johnson
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•
Director, National Environmental Satellite Center,
Environmental Science Services Administration
•
First Assistant Administrator, NOAA for Satellites and Data
• President, American Meteorological Society
– Led delegation opening dialogue with the State Meteorological Administration of the Peoples Republic of
China
•
Chair National Academy of Sciences Committee to modernize the NWS
•
Consultant to the Secretary General of WMO
• Special Assistant to the President of the University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research
• Study Director, National Research Council
•
NOAA David Johnson Award recognizing young professionals for innovative applications of Earth observation data
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Professors Suomi and Parent pose with one of their radiometers. The black ball is part of their heat budget experiment.
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• First weather satellite launched from Cape Canaveral, FL
– 77 Days
– Satellite Weight: 122 kg
– Payload: Two TV cameras, two video recorders, and the power, communications, and other systems needed
• First view of cloud formations as they developed and moved across the continent
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• Late 1960s and early 1970s NASA and NOAA developed a relationship
– NASA developed the environmental satellite technology for NOAA
– NASA received from NOAA insights concerning the conduct of daily satellite operations, data processing, and timely delivery of products, as well as application of these data.
– NOAA reimbursed NASA for personnel and other costs incurred helping NOAA meet its space mission
• General and specific agreements governed the relationship, responsibilities, and costs of the support provided to NOAA
• NOAA was charged with
– determining civilian user satellite services requirements
– specifying the required system performance
– obtaining the funds to build, launch and operate the satellite/ground systems
• NASA was charged with
– Building and launching prototypes (ATS, SMS, NIMBUS, TIROS-N, etc)
– Acquiring and launching operational satellites for NOAA
Fifty Years of Achievement
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1950
First complete view of the world’s weather (TIROS-9) Jan 1965
1970 1990 2010
TIROS-1
TIROS-9
NIMBUS DMSP
NOAA 12-19 COSMIC TIROS-N Fifty Years of Achievement NPP
NPOESS
Jason
OSVW
OCO
Wind Lidar
2030
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NOAA-19
Delta II 7320
Space Launch Complex 2, Vandenberg AFB
Feb. 6, 2009
10:22 GMT
43 U.S. Polar-orbiting weather/environmental satellites launched
TIROS ESSA ITOS TIROS-N/NOAA
1960-65 1966-69 1970-77 1978 to present
10 8 16 9
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• Launched on June 27, 2009 at 6:51pm EDT aboard a Delta-IV rocket from Space Launch
Complex (SLC) 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station, Florida.
• GOES-O reached final geostationary orbit on
July 8, 2009 at which time GOES-O was be renamed GOES-14.
1950
ATS 1-3
17 U.S. Geostationary weather/environmental satellites launched
SMS GOES
1974-75 1975 to Present
15 2
1970
SMS-1/2
GOES A-H
1990
GOES I-M
2010
GOES NOP
Predecisional, Deliberative Information - Not for Public Release
GOES R-U
18
2030
18
18

• NPOESS and GOES-R
– More timely and accurate 305 day weather forecasts
– Longer lead time for severe weather warnings
– Continue data sets needed for climate research
• Jason-3
• Ocean Vector Winds Mission (QuikScat)
• GPS Radio Occultations
• Restoring demanifested Climate Sensors (CERES, TSIS, APS, OMPS)
• Solar Wind
• Partnering with NASA on other areas
– Decadal Survey
– Joint Center for Satellite Simulation
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