THE AUTOMATIC PICTURE TRANSMISSION (APT) TV CAMERA SYSTEM FOR METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES

摘要

Nimbus, the second generation meteorological satellite which is the successor to TIROS, is a stabilized platform designed for global coverage of the earth's cloud cover and for future atmospheric research. A three camera TV system operating during daylight and an infrared scanner operating during the night store the cloud data on magnetic tape for later command readout.nThis paper describes an additional camera system, designed for automatic and continuous real-time picture transmission during daylight. Although it is planned for trial on a TIROS satellite in a time-restricted mode, its operation on Nimbus will be continuous during daylight.