Earth Science

Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite (ACRIMSAT)

Orbiter · Directed · Launched on December 21, 1999 · Completed · LCC: $18M/$36M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For ACRIMSAT, papers published January 1, 2000 to January 1, 2016. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For ACRIMSAT, papers published from 2003 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods12
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods431
Citation indices
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods10
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods12
m-indexm-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods0.4
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods6.3
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods193

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

Loading the map…

Tracked publications over the lifetime (12)

All publications CSV · JSON

  1. Secular total solar irradiance trend during solar cycles 21-23

    Willson, Richard C., 2003, GeoRL

    211 lifetime citations

  2. ACRIM total solar irradiance satellite composite validation versus TSI proxy models

    Scafetta, Nicola, 2014, Ap&SS

    48 lifetime citations

  3. ACRIM3 and the Total Solar Irradiance database

    Willson, Richard C., 2014, Ap&SS

    40 lifetime citations

  4. Modeling Total Solar Irradiance with San Fernando Observatory Ground-Based Photometry: Comparison with ACRIM, PMOD, and RMIB Composites

    Chapman, G. A., 2013, SoPh

    29 lifetime citations

  5. Reconstructed and measured total solar irradiance: Is there a secular trend between 1978 and 2003?

    Wenzler, T., 2009, GeoRL

    27 lifetime citations

  6. Total solar irradiance absolute level from DIARAD/SOVIM on the International Space Station

    Mekaoui, Sabri, 2010, AdSpR

    19 lifetime citations

  7. Multiscale comparative spectral analysis of satellite total solar irradiance measurements from 2003 to 2013 reveals a planetary modulation of solar activity and its nonlinear dependence on the 11 yr solar cycle

    Scafetta, N., 2013, PRP

    17 lifetime citations

  8. Solar irradiance variability: progress in measurement and empirical analysis

    de Toma, G., 2004, AdSpR

    11 lifetime citations

  9. The 27-day rotational variations in total solar irradiance observations: From SORCE/TIM, ACRIMSAT/ACRIM III, and SOHO/VIRGO

    Lee, Jae N., 2015, JASTP

    11 lifetime citations

  10. The Effect of the Transit of Venus on ACRIM's Total Solar Irradiance Measurements: Implications for Transit Studies of Extrasolar Planets

    Schneider, G., 2006, ApJ

    10 lifetime citations

  11. New view on exoplanet transits. Transit of Venus described using three-dimensional solar atmosphere STAGGER-grid simulations

    Chiavassa, A., 2015, A&A

    7 lifetime citations

  12. Empirical Modeling of TSI: A Critical View

    de Toma, Giuliana, 2006, SoPh

    1 lifetime citation

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming ACRIMSAT in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

((abs:"ACRIMSAT" OR abs:"Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite" OR abs:"ACRIM3" OR abs:"ACRIM-3" OR abs:"ACRIM 3" OR abs:"ACRIM III")) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2000-01 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Added after review (2)

  1. Reconstructed and measured total solar irradiance: Is there a secular trend between 1978 and 2003? Tests the irradiance trend against the ACRIM composite, which includes ACRIMSAT's ACRIM III. Decision 🤖
  2. Secular total solar irradiance trend during solar cycles 21-23 Mission's first published science result: the ACRIM irradiance composite, extended with ACRIMSAT's ACRIM III, shows a rising trend between solar minima. Decision 🤖

Removed after review (1)

  1. Correlation Between the Sunspot Number, the Total Solar Irradiance, and the Terrestrial Insolation Uses ACRIM I and II irradiance data from earlier missions; not ACRIMSAT's ACRIM III. Decision 🤖