The Nimbus Satellite 



Nimbus is a meteorological research and development satellite built 

 for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Nimbus series 

 involves the flight of a number of large earth stabilized spacecraft 

 launched in 925 - 1,390km. ( 500-750 nm. ) altitude, near-polar orbits. Two 

 Nimbus satellites have been put into orbit and a third is to be launched 

 in early spring 1969- 



The basic Nimbus satellite is approximately ten feet tall and 

 consists of three major elements: the 8 by 3 foot solar paddles which 

 provide the basic electric power supply with a maximum of k^O watts; 

 the upper hexagonal package which contains the complete attitude 

 stabilization and control system capable of keeping the spacecraft 

 oriented towards the earth with an accuracy in all three axes of less 

 than a one-degree error; and finally, the lower sensory ring which 

 consists of a 54-inch diameter toroidal structure containing eighteen 

 bays which house the major electronic elements of the spacecraft. The 

 open central portion of the torus holds large and bulky elements such 

 as cameras and tape recorders. The weight of Nimbus 1 at launch was 

 832 pounds. 



The spacecraft carries several meteorological sensors. The Advanced 

 Vidicon Camera System (AVCS) of Nimbus 1 and 2 was designed to meet the 

 needs of the national meteorological services for global weather data 

 (Nimbus B2 will carry a different television system; see Part I, 

 Section 6). The data were stored on board in a magnetic tape recorder 

 and played back on command to either of two Command and Data Acquisition 

 (CDA) sites at Gilmore Creek, Fairbanks, Alaska, or Bosman, North Carolina-, 

 these CDA sites transmitted the data to the Goddard Space Flight Center 



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