SPACE WIRE
NASA launches satellite AURA to study weather, ozone layer
WASHINGTON (AFP) Jul 15, 2004
The AURA satellite was launched successfully into orbit early Thursday, on its mission to study the Earth's atmosphere, climate change and regional differences in air quality, NASA said.

After four technical delays and a month-long wait from its original launch date in mid-June, a towering Boeing Delta II rocket blasted from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, lifting the 2,967-kilogram (6,542-pound) satellite into the night sky at 3:02 am (1002 GMT).

Less than half-an-hour later, the rocket separated from the satellite and the second-stage rocket ignited to take AURA to its orbit path at 704 kilometers (438 miles) altitude.

Aura will promote understanding of the influence the composition of the atmosphere has on climate change as well as regional differences in air quality.

Scientists are also keen to know if the condition of the ozone layer, which protects terrestrial life from harmful radiation, is worsening or healing itself of the effects of pollutants and other climate phenomena.

The satellite carries four instruments that will allow it to study the atmosphere from the troposphere, at sea-level, to the stratosphere, where the ozone layer is located: a microwave limb sounder; a high-resolution limb sounder; a spectrometer and an instrument that measures ozone levels.

Britain, the Netherlands and Finland contributed 785 million dollars to build the instruments for the US mission.

"Aura, the first comprehensive laboratory in space to help us better understand the chemistry and composition of the Earth's atmosphere, is fundamentally a mission to understand and protect the very air we breathe," said NASA associate administrator for Earth Science Ghassem Asrar.

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