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[dramatic music] >>Narrator:  Ten years

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ago, on July 15th, 2004, NASA launched a

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new science satellite: Aura. The third in

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NASA's Earth-observing system of satellites, Aura was designed to monitor the

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composition of the Earth's atmosphere and record our planet's health. 

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Aura measures the crucial gases that affect our protective ozone layer,

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the quality of the air we breathe, and our changing climate. 

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The region of our upper atmosphere known as the ozone layer

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protects everyone living on Earth's surface. >>Paul: Ozone

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screens ultraviolet radiation. If there's less ozone, you

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sunburn faster. This UV radiation can also cause things like

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skin cancer. It can result in the suppression of your immune system.

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>>Narrator: A few decades ago, man-made chemical substances known as 

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CFCs were destroying our ozone layer. >>Paul: Ozone-depleting 

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substances were going up and up and up during the 1970s.

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In 1987, the Montreal Protocol was signed, and that slowed

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the growth rate. And in fact now, every nation on the Earth has signed the

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Montreal Protocol, and these ozone-depleting substances are fully banned.

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So we needed a satellite to go up that could watch the ozone

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layer and see how these man-made chemicals were impacting ozone. So this is

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really a key period - is ozone starting to recover from the

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effects of these ozone-depleting substances? Ozone was going down, 

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and now it's kind of gone flat. And Aura's been flying during this period,

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telling us exactly what's happening to ozone. And we're hoping that in

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the next decade or so, we're going to see ozone start going up. 

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>>Narrator: Aura also measures the pollutant gases 

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in our lower atmosphere, near the surface. >>Bryan: We've seen

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dramatic changes in the US air pollution during the Aura record since 2004. 

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Our air quality is improving. It's a lot better than it was

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a decade ago, and that has been the result of environmental regulations. 

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They're working. >>Narrator: Even though air quality has been improving in the US,

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other places in the world have seen their air quality get worse.

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>>Bryan: In countries like China and India, and many other countries in the

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Middle-East or Africa, we're seeing pollutant emissions go up. And so satellites

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are able to see their pollutant levels and monitor them over time.

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>>Narrator: Aura also measures aerosols, and gases 

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such as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, so that scientists 

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can study how they interact with clouds and each other, affecting our climate. 

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>>Bryan: If you want to understand climate change, you need to monitor the greenhouse gases and how

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they change over time. >>Narrator: Climate change takes decades, 

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and it certainly takes more than ten years to study and understand it. 

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Aura's record of greenhouse gases and aerosols adds to the satellite

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and ground data that we've accumulated over the past several decades. 

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Along with measurements of things like clouds and rainfall from other satellites, 

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Aura composition data reveal the processes that contribute to

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climate change. [music transitions]

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>>Paul: Aura has four instruments. The first one is

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the Ozone Monitoring Instrument. The second one is TES. 

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It measures in the infrared, and it measures things like

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carbon monoxide. The third instrument is the Microwave Limb Sounder. MLS measures

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a range of gases - chlorine monoxide, also measures ozone. 

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And the fourth instrument is HRDLS. It didn't last very long,

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but HRDLS could measure, again, ozone, it could measure 

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some of the chlorofluorocarbons. Some of these instruments had evolved 

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from earlier instruments. But Aura brought new technology

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and better resolution. 

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>>Narrator: Over these past ten years, Aura has been here to witness and record this

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momentous time in our environmental history. Aura sees the effects of 

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emission regulations on our ozone layer and our air quality, and monitors the

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greenhouse gases that contribute to our changing climate. 

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The Aura mission was designed to last five years. 

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We are now celebrating the mission's ten-year anniversary, and its instruments 

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are still producing excellent science data. Based on the amount 

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of fuel left in the spacecraft and the condition of the instruments, engineers 

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project that Aura will continue delivering crucial science data until

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2022 and beyond. 

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[final drumbeat reverberates] [beep beep... beep beep...]

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[beep beep... beep beep... beep beep...]

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