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
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The myth of independence from the mother is abandoned in mid- life as women learn new routes around the mother—both the mother without and the mother within. A mid-life daughter may reengage with a mother or put new controls on care and set limits to love. But whatever she does, her child’s history is never finished.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)
“The basic idea which runs right through modern history and modern liberalism is that the public has got to be marginalized. The general public are viewed as no more than ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, a bewildered herd.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“Postmodernism is, almost by definition, a transitional cusp of social, cultural, economic and ideological history when modernism’s high-minded principles and preoccupations have ceased to function, but before they have been replaced with a totally new system of values. It represents a moment of suspension before the batteries are recharged for the new millennium, an acknowledgment that preceding the future is a strange and hybrid interregnum that might be called the last gasp of the past.”
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. Sunday Times: Books (London, April 21, 1991)