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- The Nimbus 7 research-and-development satellite served as a stabilized, earth-oriented platform for the testing of advanced systems for sensing and collecting data in the pollution, oceanographic and meteorological disciplines. The polar-orbiting spacecraft consisted of three major structures: (1) a hollow torus-shaped sensor mount, (2) solar paddles, and (3) a control housing unit that was connected to the sensor mount by a tripod truss structure. Configured somewhat like an ocean buoy, Nimbus-7 was nearly 3.04 m tall, 1.52 m in diameter at the base, and about 3.96 m wide with solar paddles extended. The sensor mount that formed the satellite base housed the electronics equipment and battery modules. The lower surface of the torus provided mounting space for sensors and antennas. A box-beam structure mounted within the center of the torus provided support for the larger sensor experiments. Mounted on the control housing unit, which was located on top of the spacecraft, were sun sensors, horizon scanners, and a command antenna. The spacecraft spin axis was pointed at the earth. An advanced attitude-control system permitted the spacecraft's orientation to be controlled to within plus or minus 1 deg in all three axes (pitch, roll, and yaw). Eight experiments were selected: (1) Limb Infrared Monitoring of the Stratosphere (LIMS), (2) Stratospheric And Mesopheric Sounder (SAMS), (3) Coastal-Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), (4) Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement II (SAM II), (5) Earth Radiation Budget (ERB), (6) Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), (7) Solar Backscatter UV and Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (SBUV/TOMS), and (8) Temperature-Humidity Infrared Radiometer (THIR). These sensors were capable of observing several parameters at and below the mesospheric levels. The Nimbus-7 spacecraft was turned off in 1994 after 16 years of service. Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: NIMBUS-7 Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Earth Observation Satellites Platform_Series_or_Entity: NIMBUS Short_Name: NIMBUS-7 End_Group Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names Short_Name: Nimbus-G End_Group Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments Short_Name: CZCS Short_Name: TOMS Short_Name: SBUV Short_Name: LIMS Short_Name: THIR Short_Name: SAMS Short_Name: SMMR Short_Name: ERB End_Group Group: Orbit Orbit_Altitude: 955 km Orbit_Inclination: 99.1 degree Equator_Crossing: 12:00 PM for ascending and 12:00 AM for descending Period: 104.15 min. Repeat_Cycle: 6 days End_Group Creation_Date: 2007-10-17 Online_Resource: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1978-098A Online_Resource: http://nasascience.nasa.gov/missions/nimbus Sample_Image: http://toms.gsfc.nasa.gov/n7toms/images/n7c100small.gif Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 1978-10-24 Launch_Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA Primary_Sponsor: USA/NASA End_Group End_Group
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