Sky Spies: The Ultimate Guide to Weather Satellites Tracking Storms, Saving Lives, and Monitoring Climate
TIROS-1, launched by NASA on April 1, 1960, weighed about 120 kg and transmitted over 19,000 cloud images in 78 days, proving the concept of space-based weather observation. GOES-16 (GOES-East), launched in 2016 as part of the GOES-R series, delivers 0.5 km resolution imagery across 16 spectral bands and can scan as often as 30 seconds, and it carries the Geostationary Lightning Mapper. Meteosat-1, launched in 1977, was Europe’s first geostationary meteorological satellite at 0° longitude and introduced a water vapor channel for moisture tracking. Japan’s Himawari-8 (2014) and Himawari-9 (2016) operate at 140°E, providing high-resolution full-disk imagery every 10