| ATS-1, Advanced Tech. Sat. 1, ATS-B, 02608 | |
| Mission Type: | Weather Satellite |
| Operator: | NASA |
| Cospar Id: | 1966-110A[1] |
| Satcat: | 02608 |
| Spacecraft Bus: | HS-306 |
| Manufacturer: | Hughes Aircraft |
| Launch Mass: | 352kg (776lb) |
| Launch Date: | UTC |
| Launch Rocket: | Atlas SLV-3 Agena-D |
| Launch Site: | Cape Canaveral LC-12 |
| Last Contact: | April 1985 |
| Orbit Reference: | Geocentric |
| Orbit Regime: | GEO |
| Orbit Periapsis: | 35782km (22,234miles) |
| Orbit Apoapsis: | 35793km (22,241miles) |
| Orbit Inclination: | 3.6º |
| Orbit Semimajor: | 42152km (26,192miles) |
| Orbit Eccentricity: | 0.00013 |
| Orbit Period: | 1,435.5 minutes |
| Apsis: | gee |
| Programme: | Applications Technology Satellites |
| Next Mission: | ATS-2 |
ATS-1 (Applications Technology Satellite 1), also designated ATS-B or Advanced Tech. Sat. 1,[2] was an experimental geostationary satellite, launched in 1966, and part of the Applications Technology Satellites Program.[3] Though intended as a communications satellite rather than as a weather satellite, it carried the Spin Scan Cloud Camera developed by Verner E. Suomi and Robert Parent at the University of Wisconsin.
After entering an orbit at 23000miles above Earth, initially in orbit over Ecuador, it transmitted weather images from the Western Hemisphere, as well as other data, to ground stations, including well as video feeds for television broadcasting.
It took one of the first pictures of the Earth's full-disk (the first from a geostationary orbit), on December 11, 1966.[4]
"For the first time," historians would note later, "rapid-imaging of nearly an entire hemisphere was possible. We could watch, fascinated, as storm systems developed and moved and were captured in a time series of images. Today such images are an indispensable part of weather analysis and forecasting." [5]It was the first satellite to use frequency-division multiple access which accepted multiple independent signals and downlinked them in a single carrier.
The ATS-1 satellite was used during the 1967 international television broadcast Our World, providing a link between the United States and Australia during the program.
The ATS-1 would remain operational for more than 18 years, until April 1985.[6]
This satellite was cylindrical, with a diameter of 142cm (56inches) and a height of 135cm (53inches); an additional 270cm (110inches) in height was the engine cover. The surface was covered with solar panels, and the whole satellite was stabilized by rotation. It measured in diameter, high and weighed 750lb.
A total of fifteen experiments were conducted during the mission:[7]