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Today is the 50th anniversary of the NASA Nimbus Earth observation research satellite program that began with the launch of the Nimbus-1 satellite on August 28, 1964. The seven Nimbus satellites carried 33 instruments in the visible, infrared, ultraviolet and microwave spectrum and played a key role in demonstrating the instrument technology used on today’s operational meteorological satellites. The Nimbus instruments covered the Earth’s meteorological, climatic, oceanographic and terrestrial behavior, and provided many significant benefits to society, including:

· Leading the way to revolutionizing weather forecasting to achieve accurate long-term forecasts; · Educating the scientific community about the upper atmosphere ozone depletion process and the protection against ultraviolet exposure issues; · Beginning the worldwide Search and Rescue system that has saved thousands of lives; · Advancing the understanding of the Earth’s fundamental energy budget in relation to climate change considerations.

Credit: NASA/Goddard

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