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).
Manufacturer	General Electric RCA Astro
Country of origin	United States
Operator	NASA
Applications	Weather
Specifications
Regime	Low Earth
Production
Status	Disabled
Built	8
Failed	1
Maiden launch	Nimbus 1
Last launch	Nimbus 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]