History
During the 1960s, one of most important projects the United States civil space program was involved in and dealt with meteorology and weather forecasting. Unbeknownst to many, the U.S. military services were also starting up a weather satellite program. This program, the DMSP, would relay important weather and climate data to the warfighter for more effective military operations. From the onset of the DMSP program, knowledge of its existence was limited to 'need-to-know' personnel. The United States Congress had assigned a substantial budget towards the civil weather satellite program; if knowledge of a second military program came out, it would have been hard for the military to justify it.
Initial operations of early DMSP systems provided radio return of cloud-cover imagery for planning of US high-resolution photographic reconnaissance and surveillance missions, which utilized film-return systems. DMSP satellites operated in a sun-synchronous orbit; passing over the north and south poles, the satellite would 'see' different strips of the Earth at the same local time each day. The DMSP satellites had periods of roughly 101 minutes, so they would orbit the Earth 14.3 times in 24 hours. This period combined with the sun-synchronous orbit would have the satellite pass over the whole surface of the planet twice a day.
The images acquired were relayed to the Earth and received by two command and readout stations established at retired Nike missile sites located near Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington and Loring Air Force Base, Maine. From these sites, the images were then sent to Air Force Global Weather Central (AFGWC) located at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. Images would then be processed, forming a mosaic representing the cloud patterns that were observed from the orbiting satellites. Meteorologists could then provide flight crews and other commanders with up-to-date observations for their particular missions. Further advancements enabled data to be collected in the visual spectrum down to a half-moonlit scene. Infrared processing enabled night viewing. Other enhancements increased onboard processing, this includes multiple onboard computers and expanded power requirements.
Now in its fifth decade of service, the DMSP has proven itself to be a valuable tool in scheduling and protecting military operations on land, at sea, and in the air. In December 1972, DMSP data was declassified and made available to the civil/scientific community. On June 1, 1998 the control and maintenance of the satellites were transferred to NOAA in order to reduce costs.
Read more about this topic: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
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