Evening star., 1960-04-01

weather and perhaps to some
theories relating to weather
control.
The Soviet Union is evincing
interest in using satellites to
make, long-range weather fore
casts. In a recent Russian ar
ticle. translated by the Com
merce Department, a Russian
military officer wrote that arti-
fetal earth satellites "offer
great prospects" in this field.
He hinted Russia is developing
such a satellite.
Like Oversize HatbOx
Tiros I looks much like an
oversize hatbox, AZ inches in
diameter and 10 inches high.
Its top and sides are almost
completely covered by 5000
solar cells designed to trap the
suns rays and convert them to
energy to run the satellites
batteries. Four transmitting
antennas extend from the bot
tom and q single receiving an
tenna from the top.
The satellite was aimed to
sweep through an area stretch
ing from SO degrees south lati-
tude to so degrees north. In
the Western Hemisphere this
extends roughly from Santa
Cruz. Argentina, to Montreal,
Canada.
The two cameras point out
the bottom of the satellite. One
of the cameras was designed to
take pictures covering an area
300 miles square, the other to
take magnif1ed pictures Of an
area 80 miles square in the
center Of the area photographed
by the wide-angle camera. The
enlarged second picture would
enable weathermen to identify
cloud types.
Tiros I will spin for stabiliza-
ton. so its cameras win not
always point at earth. The
cameras will be commanded by
ground signals to operate only
when they are viewing the
earth and when the area to be
photographed is in sunlight.
Images to Be Relayed
Radio devices will pinpoint
the exact location of the satel-
lite. When computations indi-
cate that conditions are right
for pictures, a signal from
either Fort Monmouth or Kaena
Point. Hawaii. will program the
cameras. This is done by set
ting a timing device in the
satellite. Program commands
can be relayed as much as five
hours in advance.
Each camera will take 80 pic
lures at 30-second intervals
during the selected part of each
orbit The images will be
stored on magnetic tape-much
as is done with commercial
itelevision programS-and trans
mitted on ground command
when the satellite passes in the
vicinity of Fort Monmouth or
Kaena Point. If the cameras
are functioning within range
Eof one of these two stations,
the pictures can be relayed
: directly.
The images will be fed onto
a televiSion screen and photo
. graphed. The resulting pic
lures should be ready for
| study within 80 minutes after
; they have been received from
the space station. The photo
data will be relayed to the
United States Naval Photo
! graphic Interpretation Center
for processing.
System of Six Hoped For
The feasibility of forecasting
/ weather by studying cloud for
: nation photographs has been
indicated by less sophisticated
ScannerS carried in the Van
guard II and Explorer VI satel-
: liteS, and by movie films recov-
cred from missile nose cones.
NASA plans eventually to
place a system of six opera
tional weather satellites into
700-mile-high Polar orbits from
Vandenberg Air Force Base
Calf. These would provide q
complete picture of the earth's
cloud cover every two hours
These advanced satellites woulc
point always at the earth anC
: would employ infra-red devices
: to take pictures at night.
The next step would be Il
t place four giant meteorological
e satellites into stationary orbit,
e 1890 miles above the earth
Using electronic devices, they