Glossary

T

TATCA Terminal Air Traffic Control Automation (program)

TCAS Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System

TDRS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite

teraFLOPS 1012 floating point operations per second

TFE Thermionic Fuel Element

thermionics A field of electronics that uses electrical current passing through a gaseous medium (vacuum tube) instead of a solid state (semi-conductor), permitting use in high-temperature and radiation environments in which other electronic devices fail

thermosphere The atmospheric zone beginning about 53 miles (85 kilometers) up and characterized by a significant rise in temperature with increased altitude

thrust-vectoring system A system on a jet engine to vary the direction of its exhaust nozzles to change the direction of the thrust

TIROS Television and Infrared Operational Satellite

TM (Landsat) Thematic Mapper (instrument)

TOPEX/Poseidon Ocean Topography Experiment

torus A doughnut-shaped figure

TOS Transfer Orbit Stage

TOVS TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder

TPFO TOPEX/Poseidon Follow-On

TRACON Terminal radar control

troposphere That portion of the atmosphere about 7 to 10 miles (11 to 16 kilometers) up where clouds form and convection is active

TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission