SME (Solar Mesosphere Explorer)
A NASA scientific satellite designed to investigate the processes that create
and destroy ozone in Earth's upper atmosphere. The mission's specific goals
were to examine the effects of changes in the solar ultraviolet flux on
ozone densities in the mesosphere; the relationship between solar flux,
ozone, and the temperature of the upper stratosphere and mesosphere; the
relationship between ozone and water vapor; and the relationship between
nitrogen dioxide and ozone. The mission was managed for NASA by JPL (Jet
Propulsion Laboratory) and operated by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and
Space Physics of the University of Colorado via the Goddard Space Flight
Center. The scientific payload included an ultraviolet ozone spectrometer,
a 1.27-micron spectrometer, a nitrogen dioxide spectrometer, a 4-channel
infrared radiometer, a solar ultraviolet monitor, and a solar proton alarm
detector. All instruments were turned off in December 1988 and contact was
lost permanently on Apr. 14, 1989, following a battery failure.
| launch date |
Oct. 6, 1981 |
| launch vehicle |
Delta 2914 |
| launch site |
Cape Canaveral |
| orbit |
335 x 337 km × 97.6° |
| size |
1.7 × 1.3 m |
| mass |
437 kg |
Related category
• SATELLITES
AND SPACE PROBES
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