Thermosphere gas and the ionospheric plasma. The International Space Station orbits the Earth within the middle of the thermosphere, between . It is convenient to separate the atmospheric regions according to the two temperature minima at about 12 km altitude (the tropopause) and at about 85 km (the mesopause) (Figure 1). The thermosphere (or the upper atmosphere) is the height region above 85 km, while the region between the tropopause and the mesopause is the middle atmosphere (stratosphere and mesosphere) where absorption of solar UV radiation generates the temperature maximum near 45 km altitude and causes the ozone layer. The density
Earth Radiation Budget Satellite Earth Radiation Budget Satellite The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) was a NASA scientific research satellite within NASA's ERBE (Earth Radiation Budget Experiment) Research Program - a three-satellite mission, designed to investigate the Earth radiation budget It also carried an instrument that studied stratospheric aerosol and gases. ERBS was launched on October 5, 1984 by the Space Shuttle "Challenger" during the STS-41-G mission and deactivated on October 14, 2005. The ERBS spacecraft was deployed from Space Shuttle Challenger on October 5, 1984 (first day of flight) using the Canadian-built RMS (Remote Manipulator System), a mechanical arm of about 16 m