Kosmos 144 (Russian: Космос 144 meaning Cosmos 144), was launched on 28 February 1967, Meteor No.6L, and was one of eleven weather satellites launched by the Soviet Union between 1964 and 1969. Kosmos 144 was the second announced Russian meteorological satellite and the first interim operational weather satellite in the experimental Kosmos satellite 'Meteor' system. It was also the first launch of the semi-operational weather satellite from the Plesetsk site into a near-polar, near-circular orbit. Unlike U.S. weather satellites, however, the orbit was prograde (not Sun-synchronous) because, as a result of geographic limitations, a retrograde orbit was not possible. Kosmos 144 was orbited to test, in a semi-operational mode, meteorological instruments designed for obtaining images of cloud cover, snow cover, and ice fields on the day and night sides of the Earth and for measuring fluxes of outgoing radiation reflected and radiated by the Earth-atmosphere system. The launch of the Kosmos 144 satellite occurred after the success of the Kosmos 122 another meteorological satellite that was launched on 25 June 1966. These satellites were used until 1969 when they were replaced with an upgraded model officially called Meteor 1. The Kosmos 144 differed from the Kosmos 122 mission from Baikonur Cosmodrome to Plesetsk Cosmodrome that was used to get the satellite at the inclination that the satellite was left. The Kosmos 144 was also soon joined by the Kosmos 156, on 27 April 1967, which due to the orbit at which the satellites were positioned made it to where one of the satellites would pass over every six hours.
Spacecraft The satellite was in the form of a large cylindrical capsule, 5 metres (16 ft) long and 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) in diameter. Kosmos 144 had a mass of 4,730 kilograms (10,430 lb). Two large solar cell panels of four segments each were deployed from opposite sides of the cylinder after satellite separation from the launch vehicle. The solar panels were rotated to constantly face the Sun during satellite daytime by means of a Sun sensor-controlled drive mechanism fitted in the top end of the center body. The meteorological instruments, a magnetometer, 465-MHz radio antennas, and orbital control devices were housed in a complex, smaller, hermetically sealed cylinder located on the earthward-facing end of the cylindrical satellite body. The satellite was triaxially stabilized by a series of inertial flywheels, driven by electric motors, whose kinetic energy was dampened by torques produced by electromagnets interacting with the Earth's magnetic field. Kosmos 144 was oriented by Earth sensors with one of its axes directed earthward along the local vertical, a second oriented along the orbital velocity vector, and a third oriented perpendicular to the orbital plane. This orientation ensured that the optical axes of the instruments were constantly directed earthward.
Instruments This instrumentation consisted of two vidicon cameras for daytime cloud cover pictures, a high-resolution scanning infrared radiometer for nighttime and daytime imaging of the Earth and clouds, and an array of narrow-angle and wide-angle radiometers covering the 0.3 to 3-μm, 8 to 12-μm, and 3 to 3-μm channels for measuring the intensity of radiation reflected from the clouds and oceans, the surface temperatures of the Earth and cloud tops, and the total flux of thermal energy from the Earth-atmosphere system into space, respectively.
Dual vidicon cameras The Kosmos 144 dual vidicon camera experiment was designed to test the capability of Russian weather satellites to provide daytime pictures of the Earth's cloud cover distribution, local storms, and global weather systems for use by the Soviet Hydrometeorological Service. The instrumentation consisted of two identical vidicon cameras that were mounted in the satellite base and were directed toward the Earth. Each camera viewed a 500 kilometres (310 mi) by 500 kilometres (310 mi) area – one to the left and the other to the right of nadir – with a resolution of 1.25 kilometres (0.78 mi) at nadir from a satellite altitude of 600 kilometres (370 mi) to 700 kilometres (430 mi). The cameras took a one-frame image of the Earth's cloud cover with slight overlapping of successive frames to provide continuous coverage. The cameras switched on automatically any time the Sun was more than 5° above the horizon. Because the Earth illumination varied so much, automatic sensors adjusted the camera apertures to produce high-quality pictures under a variety of illumination conditions. The image formed by each vidicon tube either was transmitted directly to the ground if the satellite was in radio contact with either of the two ground stations in Moscow or Novosibirsk or was recorded on magnetic tape for later transmission if the satellite was beyond the zone of radio communication. The TV images received by these ground stations were processed and transmitted to the Hydrometeorological Center in Moscow, where they were analyzed and used in various forecast and analysis products. The pictures were archived at the Hydrometeorological Center. The Kosmos 144 cameras, although having 2.5 times the resolution of those carried on the ESSA satellites, could not provide continuous overlapping global coverage as do the ESSA cameras owing to the lower orbit of the Kosmos 144 satellite (609 kilometres (378 mi) compared to 1,400 kilometres (870 mi)). Thus, to close the gaps in coverage, at least two satellites were required in the weather satellite system. In addition, cloud cover mosaics were produced from 10 or more individual cloud cover pictures at the Hydrometeorological Center to provide a more comprehensive view of global weather systems. Some of the individual pictures and the cloud mosaics were transmitted to various foreign meteorological centers as part of an international meteorological data exchange program. The United States received some of these pictures at the National Environmental Satellite Service (NESS) in Suitland, Maryland, via the "cold line" facsimile link with Moscow. Pictures from Kosmos 144 were transmitted to NESS from 2 March 1967, through 25 October 1967, interspersed with some from Kosmos 156. The transmission was renewed on 23 December 1967 and continued until 16 March 1968, when it is believed that experiment operations were terminated. These pictures were archived at NESS for 1 year and then, unless of unusual interest, were discarded.
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