ESSA-8 was a

weather satellite A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites can be polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously), or ...

launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on December 15, 1968, from

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg Sp ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Its name was derived from that of its oversight agency, the

Environmental Science Services Administration The Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) was a United States Federal executive agency created in 1965 as part of a reorganization of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission was to unify and oversee the meteorologica ...

(ESSA). ESSA-8 was an 18-sided polygon. It measured in diameter by in height, with a mass of . It was made of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

alloy and stainless steel covered with 10,020 solar cells. The cells charged 63 nickel–cadmium batteries, which served as a power source. The satellite could take 8 to 10 pictures every 24 hours. Each photo covered a area at a resolution of per pixel. ESSA-8's mission was to replace

ESSA-6 ESSA-6 (or TOS-D) was a spin-stabilized operational meteorological satellite. Its name was derived from that of its oversight agency, the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA). Launch ESSA-6 was launched on November 10, 1967, at ...

, and provide detailed cloud pattern photography to ground stations worldwide. Partners in the project included NASA, ESSA,

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, the

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

, and the

National Centers for Environmental Prediction The United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) delivers national and global weather, water, climate and space weather guidance, forecasts, warnings and analyses to its Partners and External User Communities. These prod ...

(NMC). ESSA-8 operated for 2,644 days until it was deactivated on March 12, 1976.

References

External links

*http://www.earth.nasa.gov/history/essa/essa8.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20060902131201/http://www.met.fsu.edu/explores/Guide/Essa_Html/essa8.html Spacecraft launched in 1968 Meteorological instrumentation and equipment Weather satellites of the United States {{US-spacecraft-stub