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

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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.]

http://acrim.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://www.acrim.com/
http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/PRODOCS/acrimIII/table_acrimIII.html