Nimbus 7

Also called Nimbus G

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General

Designation	11080 / 78098A
Launch date	24 Oct 1978
Country of origin	United States
Mission	Meteorology
Perigee/Apogee	944/956 km
Inclination	99°
Period	104 min
Orbital cycle	6 days
Launch vehicle	Thor Delta #145
Mass at launch	827 kg

Nimbus 7 was notable for providing the first daily mapping ozone concentration and the first global ocean color measurements. Data was for the first time used by ESA

Spacecraft and experiment data were transmitted to Earth stations immediately, or stored in an on-board high-speed tape recorder for subsequent playback when the satellite was in view of a ground acquisition station.

Technical data

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Specifications

Prime contractor	GE Astro
Stabilization	3-axis

Equipped with numerous instruments: CZCS (Coastal Zone Color Scanner) out of service on 18 Dec 1986; ERBE (Earth Radiation Budget Experiment); LIMS (Limb IR Monitor of the Stratosphere) out of service mid 1989; SAM 2 (Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement 2) still working in 1992; SAMS (Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder) out of service in June 1983; SBUV/TOMS (Solar Backscatter Ultra-Violet/Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) SBUV out of service in February 1987, TOMS still working in 1992; SMMR (Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer) out of service on 6 Jul 1988 and last but not least THIR (Temperature Humidity IR Radiometer) out of service in March 1985

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