Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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required for Project TIROS in excess of the $11,649,000 provided by ARPA.
5. Equipment acquired for Project TIROS will remain available to the Project until
its conclusion. The disposition of any such equipment at the conclusion of the Project will
be as mutually agreed upon by NASA and DOD.
[hand-signed: “Hugh L. Dryden for”] [hand-signed: “Ray W. Johnson”]
T. Keith Glennan Roy W. Johnson
for NASA for Department of Defense
Document II-4
Document title: U.S. Department of Commerce, Weather Bureau, “National Plan for a
Common System of Meteorological Observation Satellites,” Technical Planning Study No.
3, Preliminary Draft, October 1960, pp. 1–3.
Source: NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
When NASA’s first TIROS satellite proved highly useful in studying large-scale weather systems, the
U.S. Weather Bureau began planning for a fully operational national weather satellite system. The
Weather Bureau proposed to remove NASA from its overall lead position to the role of performing
research and development in support of the operational system. In October 1960, NASA organized the
first meeting of an interagency panel to discuss the issue of an operational system. At the meeting, the
Weather Bureau brought forth its plan; the foreword and first section of the study appears here.
Predictably, NASA objected to giving up as much control over the program as the U.S. Weather Bureau
desired. The result was a compromise plan issued in April 1961.
[no page number]
OBSERVING THE EARTH FROM SPACE
National Plan for a Common System
of Meteorological Observation Satellites
Washington, D.C.
October 1960 . . .
FOREWORD
The present report is a summary of planning that commenced shortly after the successful
launching and operation of TIROS I, April–June 1960. The results of this remarkably
successful meteorological satellite clearly show that satellites must be included as an
integral part of a comprehensive, world-wide weather observing system. Their ability to
give complete global coverage, to look at familiar meteorological phenomena from a new
vantage point and to reveal organized motions and processes over a great range of dimensions
will influence virtually all phases of meteorological development and operations.
Representatives of the government departments directly interested met at the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Headquarters on October 10, 1960 for
discussions of how to proceed with an operational meteorological satellite program. Need
for a national plan indicated at this meeting prompted issuance of this report at the present
time. It represents an effort to utilize results of studies made since 1954, including a
1959 report to the World Meteorological Organization, and experience gained from