Aura satellite now in sixth year in space

GREENBELT, Md., July 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency's Aura spacecraft began its sixth year of research this week, studying Earth's ozone layer, air quality and climate.

The satellite, launched July 15, 2004, from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, has transmitted data that is helping scientists address global climate change issues such as global warming; the distribution and chemistry of polluted air, and ozone depletion in the Earth's stratosphere, space agency scientists said.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the Aura mission.