Space Science and Engineering Center University of Wisconsin-Madison

SSEC’s Schwerdtfeger Library is pleased to release the SSEC Satellite Meteorology Timeline, the most recent addition to its collection of digital resources.  The interactive timeline highlights satellite meteorology achievements in which SSEC played a role.

The timeline begins more than 50 years ago, when the world’s fascination with space exploration quickly grew on the heels of the 1957 International Geophysical Year (IGY) and the Soviet Union’s successful launch of Sputnik later that same year. NASA, founded in 1958, paved the way for ‘peaceful and scientific’ exploration of space in the United States – not only funding scientific research programs, but providing funding to establish research centers like the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC).

Thematically, the evolution of satellite meteorology at SSEC is characterized by eras of specific scientific needs and objectives realized by specific scientific programs and technologies; all connected over time.

While the timeline describes and chronicles SSEC’s historic role in satellite meteorology, bringing us up to the present day, SSEC looks ahead to a rich and promising future in what has become a global enterprise.