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Nimbus program

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Nimbus
Artist's drawing of the general design of the Nimbus series of satellites. The solar-panel "wings" move throughout the day to track the Sun during the daylight part of the satellite's orbit. The 10-foot-tall satellite has the attitude control system on top, separated from a 5-foot-diameter "sensory ring" (center) with scaffolding. The sensory ring holds the batteries and electronics for each of the sensors that are mounted underneath the ring (bottom).
ManufacturerGeneral Electric
RCA Astro
Country of originUnited States
OperatorNASA
ApplicationsWeather
Specifications
RegimeLow Earth
Production
StatusDisabled
Built8
Failed1
Maiden launchNimbus 1
Last launchNimbus 7

The Nimbus satellites were second-generation U.S. robotic spacecraft launched between 1964 and 1978 used for meteorological research and development. The spacecraft were designed to serve as stabilized, Earth-oriented platforms for the testing of advanced systems to sense and collect atmospheric science data. Seven Nimbus spacecraft have been launched into near-polar, Sun-synchronous orbits beginning with Nimbus 1 on August 28, 1964. On board the Nimbus satellites are various instrumentation for imaging, sounding, and other studies in different spectral regions. The Nimbus satellites were launched aboard Thor-Agena rockets (Nimbus 1–4) and Delta rockets (Nimbus 5–7).

Over a 20-year period from the launch of the first satellite, the Nimbus series of missions was the United States' primary research and development platform for satellite remote sensing of the Earth. The seven Nimbus satellites, launched over a fourteen-year period, shared their space-based observations of the planet for thirty years. NASA transferred the technology tested and refined by the Nimbus missions to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for its operational satellite instruments. The technology and lessons learned from the Nimbus missions are the heritage of most of the Earth-observing satellites NASA and NOAA have launched over the past three decades.[1]

Contributions

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Weather forecasting

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At the time of its launch, the idea that intangible properties such as air pressure could be observed using a satellite orbiting hundreds of miles above the Earth was revolutionary.[citation needed] With each Nimbus mission, scientists broadened their ability to collect atmospheric characteristics that improved weather forecasting, including ocean and air temperatures, air pressure, and cloudiness. Beginning with the Nimbus 3 satellite in 1969, temperature information through the atmospheric column began to be retrieved by satellites from the eastern Atlantic and most of the Pacific Ocean, which led to significant forecast improvements.[2] The global coverage provided by Nimbus satellites made accurate 3–5 day forecasts possible for the first time.[citation needed]

The ability of the Nimbus satellites to detect electromagnetic energy in multiple wavelengths (multi-spectral data), in particular the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum, made it possible for scientists to look into the atmosphere and tell the difference between water vapor and liquid water in clouds.[citation needed] In addition, they were able to measure atmospheric temperature even in the presence of clouds,[citation needed] a capability that allowed scientists to take the temperature in the "warm core" of hurricanes.[citation needed]

Radiation budget

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One of the most important scientific contributions of the Nimbus missions was their measurements of the Earth's radiation budget. For the first time, scientists had global, direct observations of the amount of solar radiation entering and exiting the Earth system. The observations helped to verify and refine the earliest climate models, and are still making important contributions to the study of climate change. As scientists consider the causes and effects of global warming, Nimbus radiation budget data provide a base for long-term analyses and make change-detection studies possible. The Nimbus technology gave rise to current radiation-budget sensors, such as the CERES instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.[3]

Ozone layer

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Even before the Nimbus satellites began collecting their observations of Earth's ozone layer, scientists had some understanding of the processes that maintained or destroyed it. They were pretty sure[citation needed] they understood how the layer formed, and they knew from laboratory experiments that halogens could destroy ozone. Finally, weather balloons had revealed that the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere changed over time, and scientists suspected weather phenomena or seasonal change were responsible. But how all of these pieces of information worked together on a global scale was still unclear.[citation needed]

Scientists conducted experiments from NASA experimental aircraft and proved that atmospheric chemicals such as the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) released from refrigerants and aerosol sprays did destroy ozone. As Nimbus 7 satellite observations accumulated between 1978 and 1994, it became increasingly clear that CFCs were creating an ozone hole each winter season over Antarctica. Not only that, but despite some year-to-year variations, it appeared the hole was becoming larger. The Nimbus measurements made clear how severe the ozone hole problem was.[4]

NASA's Nimbus contractors[5]
Company System Amount*
General Electric Prime $2,100,000
Control & stabilization 1,515,710
5-watt transmitter 92,652
RCA Cameras & solar power 302,324
Vidicon and solar power
IT&T Labs High-resolution IR radiometer 139,235
Santa Barbara Research Center Medium-resolution IR 343,426
New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts Antennas 69,384
California Computer Products, Inc. Clock
Ampex Tape recorder
Radiation Inc. PCM telemetry
Contract sums are for research for development and delivery for first two Nimbus launchings

Sea ice

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Nimbus satellites collected orbital data on the extent of the polar caps in the mid-1960s, recorded in the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum. These first global snapshots of Earth's icecaps provide invaluable reference points for climate change studies. During a narrowing window of opportunity for data archaeology, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NDISC) and NASA were able to recover data that allowed the reconstruction of high-resolution Nimbus 2 images from 1966 showing the entire Arctic and Antarctic ice caps.[6]

When the Nimbus 5 spacecraft launched in 1972, scientists planned for its Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer to collect global observations of where and how much it rained across the world. However, a new priority for the sensor evolved in the months following its launch: mapping global sea ice concentrations. When Nimbus 7 launched in 1978, technology had improved enough for scientists to distinguish newly formed (i.e., "first year") sea ice from older ice, with the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) sensor. The data it collected during its 9-year lifespan provide a significant chunk of the long-term record of Earth's sea ice concentration that today's scientists use for studies of climate change.

Among the most serendipitous discoveries that the Nimbus missions made possible was that of a gaping hole in the sea ice around Antarctica in the Southern Hemisphere winters of 1974–76. In a phenomenon that has not been observed since, an enormous, ice-free patch of water, called a polynya, developed three years in a row in the seasonal ice that encases Antarctica each winter. Located in the Weddell Sea, each year the polynya vanished with the summer melt, but returned the following year. The open patch of water may have influenced ocean temperatures as far down as 2,500 meters and influenced ocean circulation over a wide area. The Weddell Sea Polynya has not been observed since the event witnessed by the Nimbus satellites in the mid-70s.

Global positioning system

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Nimbus satellites (beginning with Nimbus 3 in 1969) blazed the trail into the modern GPS era with operational search and rescue and data collection systems. The satellites tested the first technology that allowed satellites to locate weather-observation stations set up in remote locations and to command the stations to transmit their data back to the satellite. The most famous demonstration of the new technology was through the record-breaking flight of British aviator Sheila Scott, who tested the Nimbus navigation and locator communication system when she made the first-ever solo flight over the North Pole in 1971.

The Nimbus ground-to-satellite-to-ground communication system demonstrated the first satellite-based search and rescue system. Among the earliest successes were the rescue of two hot air balloonists who went down in the North Atlantic in 1977 and, later that year, tracking a Japanese adventurer on his first attempt to be the first person to dogsled solo to the North Pole through Greenland. Tens of thousands of people over the past three decades have been rescued through the Search and Rescue Satellite-aided Tracking (SARSAT) operational system on NOAA satellites.

Nuclear power

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Nimbus-3 was the first satellite to use a SNAP-19 radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) in space. A previous attempt was made to launch a SNAP-19 RTG on Nimbus-B-1, but the rocket was destroyed and the nuclear fuel landed in the Santa Barbara Channel. Later, the fuel was recovered from the wreckage at a depth of 300 feet (91 m) and re-purposed for Nimbus-3 as the SNAP-19B.[7] This power source augmented the solar array with an additional 28.2 W of electrical power.[8]

Operation history of the Nimbus satellites

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Satellite Launch Date Decay Date Perigee Apogee Launch Site Launch Vehicle COSPAR ID Mass
Nimbus 1 August 28, 1964 May 16, 1974 429 km 937 km Vandenberg 75-1-1 Thor-Agena B 1964-052A 374 kg
Nimbus 2 May 15, 1966[9] January 17, 1969 1103 km 1169 km Vandenberg 75-1-1 Thor-Agena B 1966-040A 413 kg
Nimbus B May 18, 1968[10] Destroyed at launch --- --- Vandenberg SLC-2E Thor-Agena D 572 kg
Nimbus 3 April 13, 1969 January 22, 1972 1075 km 1135 km Vandenberg SLC-2E Thor-Agena B 1969-037A 576 kg
Nimbus 4 April 8, 1970 September 30, 1980 1092 km 1108 km Vandenberg SLC-2E Thor-Agena 1970-025A 619 kg
Nimbus 5 December 11, 1972
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1089 km 1101 km Vandenberg SLC-2W Delta 1972-097A 770 kg
Nimbus 6 June 12, 1975
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1093 km 1101 km Vandenberg SLC-2W Delta 1975-052A 585 kg
Nimbus 7 October 24, 1978
1994
941 km 954 km Vandenberg SLC-2W Delta 1978-098A 832 kg

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Lindsey, Rebecca (July 19, 2005). "Nimbus: 40th Anniversary". NASA Earth Observatory. Retrieved May 16, 2006.
  2. ^ National Environmental Satellite Center (January 1970). "SIRS and the Improved Marine Weather Forecast". Mariners Weather Log. 14 (1). Environmental Science Services Administration: 12–15.
  3. ^ "The Earth's Radiation Budget". July 19, 2005. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  4. ^ Bhartia, Pawan Kumar; McPeters, Richard D. (2018). "The discovery of the Antarctic Ozone Hole". Comptes Rendus Geoscience. 350 (7). Elsevier BV: 335–340. Bibcode:2018CRGeo.350..335B. doi:10.1016/j.crte.2018.04.006. hdl:2060/20190002263. ISSN 1631-0713.
  5. ^ Missiles and Rockets, March 13, 1961, p. 34.
  6. ^ Techno-archaeology rescues climate data from early satellites Archived January 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), January 2010 WebCitation Archive
  7. ^ "Atomic Power in Space II: A History 2015" (PDF). inl.gov. Idaho National Laboratory. September 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  8. ^ "Nimbus III – NASA Radioisotope Power Systems". NASA Radioisotope Power Systems. NASA. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  9. ^ Environmental Science Services Administration (July 1966). "On the Editor's Desk". Mariners Weather Log. 10 (4). Department of Commerce: 122.
  10. ^ The Day the Nimbus Weather Satellite Exploded, by Maya Wei-Haas, Smithsonian magazine (January 2017)
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