October 30, 2008 Vol. 1, Issue 10
Nimbus 7, the last in a series of R&D weather satellites operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, launched on October 25, 1978.
Nimbus 7, also known as Nimbus-G, was launched on a Delta rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The satellite was placed in a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 955 km, enabling it to provide global coverage every six days.
The satellite supported eight instruments (Coastal Zone Color Scanner, Earth Radiation Budget, Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere, Stratosheric Aerosol Measurement II, Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder, Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet/Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer, and Temperature Humidity Infrared Radiometer) in support of seven experiments. It collected data on ozone, the stratosphere, ocean conditions, and global weather. The Stratospheric and Mesopheric Sounder experiment included a research team from the United Kingdom.
Nimbus 7 remained in operation until 1994.
