History of Satellite Meteorology - Nimbus Series

• Then came the Nimbus series, Nimbus 1 was launched on 28 August, 1964.  

• The Nimbus satellites were the first three-axis stablized meteorological satellites. This allowed the satellie sensors to continuously point towards the earth.

• They were also the first sun-synchronous satellites.  

• Six more Nimbus satellites were subsequently launched and provided continuous coverage of the earth for the first time.

• This meant that tropical storms could be closely monitored for the first time.

• The last Nimbus satellite was launched in 1978.  

• The current NOAA polar orbiting satellites are descendents of the original Nimbus satellites.