Jul 15 2004
From The Space Library
NASA launched an Earth-observation satellite called Aura from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 3:01 a.m. (PDT). The spacecraft was one of three satellites in NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) ~ the two others were Terra, which monitored land, and Aqua, which monitored the planet's water cycle. NASA had created Aura to collect scientific data on global air quality, ozone recovery, and climate change, equipping the satellite with four instruments: the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder, the Microwave Limb Sounder, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument, and the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer. Project engineers hoped that the instruments would enable the spacecraft to collect the most detailed measurements to date of atmospheric pollution, climate change, and the ozone layer. (NASA, “Aura Launched, To Better Understand the Air We Breathe,” news release 04-2 17, 15 July 2004; Eric D. Tytell, “Satellite To Study Atmospheric Pollutants,” Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2004.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
