CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MISSION SUMMARY - Aura -
Full Name Aura (formerly EOS Chemistry)
aka EOS Chemistry
Status Operational (extended)
Mission Agencies NASA, FMI, NIVR, NSO, UKSA Launch Date 15 Jul 2004
Mission Links mission site | data access portal EOL Date Sep 2025
EO Portal Info NORAD Catalog # 28376 (TLE)
International Designator 2004-026A
Orbit Type Sun-synchronous Orbit Period 98.8 minutes
Orbit Sense Ascending Orbit Inclination 98.2 deg
Orbit Altitude 705 km Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST 13:46 Repeat Cycle 16 days
Objectives and Applications 6-year nominal mission life, currently in extended operations. Measurements of aerosol and cloud properties for climate predictions, using a 3-channel lidar and passive instruments in formation with CloudSat for coincident observations of radiative fluxes and atmospheric state.
Mission Measurements
CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereAerosols HiRDLS, OMI
Atmospheric Humidity Fields HiRDLS, MLS (EOS-Aura), TES
Cloud type, amount and cloud top temperature HiRDLS, OMI
Cloud particle properties and profile MLS (EOS-Aura)
Ozone HiRDLS, MLS (EOS-Aura), OMI, TES
Trace gases (excluding ozone) HiRDLS, MLS (EOS-Aura), OMI, TES
Atmospheric Temperature Fields HiRDLS, MLS (EOS-Aura), TES
LandSurface temperature (land) TES
Mission Instruments
HiRDLS - High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder
MLS (EOS-Aura) - Microwave Limb Sounder (EOS-Aura)
OMI - Ozone Measuring Instrument
TES - Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer
Featured Datasets
More Datasets
AURA
Jan-2004



Aura (formerly EOS/Chem-1) is the chemistry mission of NASA with the overall objective to study the chemistry and dynamics of Earth’s atmosphere from the ground through the mesosphere. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) is a nadir-viewing UV/VIS imaging spectrograph that measures the solar radiation backscattered by the Earth’s atmosphere and surface over the entire wavelength range from 270 to 500 nm, with a spectral resolution of about 0.5 nm. The design is of GOME heritage, flown on ERS-2, as well as of SCIAMACHY and GOMOS heritage, flown on Envisat. Read more

OpenSearch Datasets Selected IDN OpenSearch Results (search all 593 )
Aqua AIRS-MLS Matchup Indexes V1.0 (AIRS_MLS_IND) at GES_DISC
ARCTAS Supplementary Satellite Data Products
ARCTAS Supplementary Satellite Data Products
ATom: Column-Integrated Densities of Hydroxyl and Formaldehyde in Remote Troposphere
Aura OMI complete NASA dataset
Cemar Routine Monitoring of Macroalgal and Phytoplankton Diversity
ESA Aerosol Climate Change Initiative (Aerosol_cci): Level 3 aerosol products from the Multi-Sensor ...
ESA Ozone Climate Change Initiative (Ozone CCI): Level 3 Nadir Ozone Profile Merged Data Product, ve ...
GEOS-5 FP-IT 3D Time-Averaged Model-Layer Assimilated Data Geo-Colocated to OMI/Aura UV2 1-Orbit L2 ...
GEOS-5 FP-IT 3D Time-Averaged Model-Layer Assimilated Data Geo-Colocated to OMI/Aura VIS 1-Orbit L2 ...

Selected FedEO OpenSearch Results (view all 6 results: browser , table )
ESA Aerosol Climate Change Initiative (Aerosol_cci): Level 3 aerosol products from the Multi-Sensor...
CLIMATE APPLICATIONS: Climate change monitoring (e.g. ERA-5, C3S, IGAC-TOAR); Chemistry-Climate Mode...
Aura OMI complete NASA dataset
ESA Ozone Climate Change Initiative (Ozone CCI): Level 3 Nadir Ozone Profile Merged Data Product, ve...
CLIMATE APPLICATIONS: Climate change monitoring (e.g. ERA-5, C3S, IGAC-TOAR); Chemistry-Climate Mode...
Multi Sensor Reanalysis of total ozone, version 2. CLIMATE APPLICATIONS: Climate research, ozone mon...

Want to explore more? Read about FedEO by ESA or click here to search FedEO or CMR OpenSearch by NASA