SATELLITES-------
TIROS-TIROS IX-------
TIROS-TIROS IX-------
SPACECRAFT DESCRIPTION:
The spacecraft was an 18-sided polygon, 42 inches in diameter, 19 inches high and weighed 270 pounds. This was the heaviest TIROS satellite thus far. The craft was made of aluminum alloy and stainless steel then covered with 9200 solar cells. The solar cells served to charge the 63 nickel-cadmium batteries.
TIROS IX'S camera configuration was different than any previous TIROS craft. The two cameras were mounted 180 degrees opposite each other along the side of the cylindrical craft rather than in the base plate parallel to the rotation axis. Therefore, a camera could be pointed at some point on Earth every time the satellite rotated along its axis. The spacecraft operating system was the same as in the previous TIROS models except that two infrared horizon sensors were employed. The craft was placed in its planned sun-synchronous 82 degree retrograde orbit, but a Delta malfunction placed the satellite in a 435 to 1602 mile elliptical orbit instead of a 400 mile circular orbit.
The spacecraft was an 18-sided polygon, 42 inches in diameter, 19 inches high and weighed 270 pounds. This was the heaviest TIROS satellite thus far. The craft was made of aluminum alloy and stainless steel then covered with 9200 solar cells. The solar cells served to charge the 63 nickel-cadmium batteries.
TIROS IX'S camera configuration was different than any previous TIROS craft. The two cameras were mounted 180 degrees opposite each other along the side of the cylindrical craft rather than in the base plate parallel to the rotation axis. Therefore, a camera could be pointed at some point on Earth every time the satellite rotated along its axis. The spacecraft operating system was the same as in the previous TIROS models except that two infrared horizon sensors were employed. The craft was placed in its planned sun-synchronous 82 degree retrograde orbit, but a Delta malfunction placed the satellite in a 435 to 1602 mile elliptical orbit instead of a 400 mile circular orbit.
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