AURA is an American (NASA) remote sensing satellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 10:02 UT on 2004 July 15. The 2.97-ton, 4.6-kW, 2.7m x 2.3m x 6.9m size satellite will monitor ozone and related molecules in the stratosphere and troposphere, as an extension of the previous observations by UARS and TOMS missions.
Initial orbital parameters were period 98.5 min, apogee 688 km, perigee 684 km, and inclination 98.2 degrees. It carries the following four monitoring instruments:
HIRDLS (HIgh Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder) is passive radiometer that aims at the Earth limb to determine the vertical and horizontal distributions of ozone, water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxides, nitric acid, and CFC through infrared emissions in 21 channels covering 6.12-17.76 mm wavelengths.
MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder) mainly aims at the vertical and horizontal distributions of ozone-depleting molecules in the lower stratosphere. It is again a limb scanner, operating in five frequency bands. The 118 GHz band will probe the temperature and pressure profile; the 190 GHz band will probe water vapor, and nitric acid; the 240 GHz band will primarily address the ozone and CO populations; the 640 GHz band will cover nitrous acid, HCl, CIO, BrO, and sulfur dioxide; and the 2.5 THz will monitor the OH population.
OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) will monitor the backscattered solar radiation by ozone in the visible and UV bands, in 740 wavelength channels. It will extend the observations by similar instruments on TOMS and NIMBUS satellites since 1970.
TES (Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer) is a high-resolution imaging Fourier transform spectrometer covering the 3.2-15.4 micrometer band. It can be oriented as a nadir-looking (at a spatial resolution of 0.53 km x 5.3 km), or limb-looking instrument (with a height resolution of 2.3 km).
Alternate Names
EOS-Aura
Facts in Brief
Launch Date: 2004-07-15
Launch Vehicle: Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg AFB, United States