Aura

Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura was a NASA mission to study the Earth's ozone, air quality and climate. Aura was the third in a series of major Earth observing satellites to study the environment and climate change. Terra and studied the land, oceans, and the Earth's radiation budget.

Aura's chemistry measurements were also to follow up on measurements which began with NASA'S Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite and continue the record of satellite ozone data collected from the TOMS missions.

The EOS Aura satellite, instruments, launch, and science investigations were managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The satellite was launched in July 2004 and was designed to operate for five or more years. Scientific payloads included:

• HIRDLS - High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder
• MLS - Microwave Limb Sounder
• OMI - Ozone Monitoring Instrument
• TES - Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer

The Aura spacecraft bus design was the same as that of NASA's Aqua mission: mechanical and electrical interfaces for accommodating the science payloads differed between the two spacecraft, but the bus subsystems, such as electrical power and attitude control, were identical, resulting in reduced cost for both design and the acquisition of hardware and software.

The spacecraft was put into a near polar, sun-synchronous orbit with a period of approximately 100 minutes. The spacecraft repeated its ground track every 16 days to provide atmospheric measurements over virtually every point on the Earth in a repeatable pattern, permitting assessment of atmospheric phenomena changes in the same geographic locations throughout the life of the mission.

Aura Specifications

• Size: Stowed - 8.8 ft h (2.70 m ) by 7.5 ft w (2.28 m ) by 22.7 ft (6.91 m )
• Deployed - 15.4 ft h (4.70 m ) by 57.0 ft w (17.37 m ) by 22.7 ft (6.91 m )
• Weight: Total - 6,542 lbs (2,967 kg)
• Spacecraft - 3,896 lbs (1,767 kg)
• Instruments - 2,646 lbs (1,200 kg)
• Power: 4,600W (End of Life)
• Telemetry: S-band
• Orbit: 438 mi (705 km) polar, sun-synchronous, 1:45 PM ascending node
• Launch Vehicle: Delta 7920

Mass: 2,967 kg (6,541 lb). Payload: 1,200 kg (2,600 lb). Electrical System: Solar panels. Electric System: 4.60 average kW. Associated Launch Vehicle: Delta 7000.

• 2004 July 15 - Aura - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Delta. Mass: 2,967 kg (6,541 lb). Perigee: 688 km (427 mi). Apogee: 694 km (431 mi). Inclination: 98.20 deg. Period: 98.60 min.

  Atmosphere Dynamics & Chemistry. Delayed from January 29, February 6, March 19, June 17, 19 and 26, July 8, 10, 11, 13 and 14.