Weather Satellite

As an engineer at ITT Aerospace we were developing cameras for the experimental and operational weather satellites.  These instruments viewed the earth to measure temperature of all of the earth in fine resolution so that we could help weather experts understand the whole atmosphere, from pictures of clouds to measurement of ground and water temperature, cloud location and movement, upper atmosphere temperatures, winds, vertical temperature profiles and other products.

It became obvious that many people did not understand any of the basics of satellites and weather satellites in particular.  I wrote and drew a picture story to explain this to young people.  I then presented the material at science classes and various organizations.  A friend of mine at NASA picked up on this and requested that the book be made for general distribution to students through their web sites and other publicity.  Since 1997 there have been over 40,000 copies distributed by NASA and the book has been translated to Spanish and Italian.

It has been rewarding to know that this material is helping in teaching our young people.  You may see the book and get additional information at the NASA web site at  http://scijinks.jpl.nasa.gov/build-satellite