| definition
| - The purpose of the Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor III (ACRIM III)
instrument is to study total solar Irradiance from the Sun. The ACRIM III
package is flying on a spacecraft called ACRIMSAT. The spacecraft was launched
on December 20, 1999 as a secondary payload on a Taurus launch vehicle. ACRIM
III, third in a series of long-term solar-monitoring tools built for NASA by
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will continue to extend the database first
created by ACRIM I, which was launched in 1980 on the Solar Maximum Mission
(SMM) spacecraft. ACRIM II followed on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite
(UARS) in 1991. ACRIMSAT data will be correlated with possible global warming
data, ice cap shrinkage data, and ozone layer depletion data. It is theorized
that as much as 25 percent of the Earth's total global warming may be solar in
origin due to small increases in the Sun's total energy output since the last
century. By measuring incoming solar radiation and adding measurements of ocean
and atmosphere currents and temperatures, as well as surface temperatures,
climatologists will be able to improve their predictions of climate and global
warming over the next century. Energy forecasting, carbon management, public
health.
Launch: Launched: December 20, 1999
Launch Vehicle: Taurus
Launch Site: Western Test Range, Vandenberg Air Force Base
Orbit: Altitude: 680 km
Inclination: 98.13 degrees Sun-Synchronous
Vital Statistics: Weight: 13 kg
Power: 49 watts
Design Life: 5 years
Instruments: Active Cavity Radiometer (ACR) instrument (4 Shuttle)
SMM/ACRIM I
SMM/ACRIM II
Website: http://science.hq.nasa.gov/missions/satellite_55.htm
[Summary provided by NASA.]
Group: Platform_Details
Entry_ID: ACRIMSAT
Group: Platform_Identification
Platform_Category: Solar/Space Observation Satellites
Short_Name: ACRIMSAT
Long_Name: Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite
End_Group
Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names
Short_Name: 1999-070B
Short_Name: 26033
End_Group
Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments
Short_Name: ACRIM III
End_Group
Group: Orbit
Orbit_Altitude: 685 km
Orbit_Inclination: 98.13 degrees
Equator_Crossing: 10:50 AM descending node
Period: 99 m
Perigee: 683 km
Apogee: 727 km
Orbit_Type: LEO > Low Earth Orbit > Polar Sun-Synchronous
End_Group
Online_Resource: http://acrim.jpl.nasa.gov/
Online_Resource: http://www.acrim.com/
Online_Resource: http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/PRODOCS/acrimIII/table_acrimIII.html
Sample_Image: http://acrim.jpl.nasa.gov/images/common/acrimsatanim2.gif
Group: Platform_Logistics
Launch_Date: 1999-12-20
Launch_Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA
Design_Life: 5 years
Primary_Sponsor: NASA
End_Group
End_Group (en)
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