NASA launches first synchronous weather satellite

On May 17, 1974, NASA launched the first Synchronous Weather Satellite, SMS-1. This was the first satellite designed to monitor weather conditions from a geostationary orbit. This type of orbit allowed it to remain above a fixed location as the Earth rotates. One of the instruments on this spacecraft was a Visible Infrared Rotary Scanning Radiometer (VISSR), which provided high-quality cloud cover data 24 hours a day. It also had a data collection and transmission system that allowed it to relay data from central meteorological facilities to smaller regional stations. Another device known as a space environmental monitor measured charged particles in Earth’s radiation belts and solar wind. The satellite was shaped like a cylinder and measured about 7 feet long, not including a 33-inch magnetometer that sat at one end. It was launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta rocket and remained operational for about 7 years. It was replaced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new GOES satellite, which was nearly identical.