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Solar Mesosphere Explorer

SME

The Solar Mesosphere Explorer was an Earth-orbiting spacecraft designed to investigate the processes that create and destroy the ozone in Earth's upper atmosphere, or mesosphere.

Mission Statistics

Launch Date

Oct 06, 1981

Type

Orbiter

Target

Earth

Status

Past

About the mission

The Solar Mesosphere Explorer was an Earth-orbiting spacecraft designed to investigate the processes that create and destroy the ozone in Earth's upper atmosphere, or mesosphere. It returned data until April 4, 1989 and reentered Earth's atmosphere nearly a year later.

Instruments

  • Infrared radiometer
  • Visible nitrogen dioxide
  • Solar ultraviolet monitor
  • Solar proton alarm detector
› Solar Mesosphere Explorer Information on National Space Science Data Center

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