NSSDC Earth Science

Nimbus Program

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

The Nimbus satellites were second-generation meteorological research and development (R&D) spacecraft designed to serve as stablized, 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. The operation history of the Nimbus satellites are listed in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Operation History of the Nimbus Satellites

Satellite           Launch Date                 Decay Date

Nimbus 1            1964-08-28                  1974-05-16 
Nimbus 2            1966-05-15                  1969-01-17
Nimbus 3            1969-04-14                  1972-01-22
Nimbus 4            1970-04-08                  1980-09-30
Nimbus 5            1972-12-11					
Nimbus 6            1975-06-12
Nimbus 7            1978-10-24

On board the Nimbus satellites are various instrumentation for imaging, sounding, and other studies in different spectral regions. Table 2 summarizes the Nimbus instruments. For more information about the Nimbus spacecraft, experiments and data sets, please choose from the following:

Earth Science Data in Transition Page

Ed Bell

NSSDC Earth Science

Nimbus Program

Table 1. Operation History of the Nimbus Satellites

NASA Privacy Policy and Important Notices NASA Official: Dr. David R. Williams Version 2.3, 03 December 2009

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NASA Official: Dr. David R. Williams Version 2.3, 03 December 2009