Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) was a NASA-operated orbital observatory whose mission was to study the Earth’s atmosphere, particularly the protective ozone layer. The satellite was deployed from Space Shuttle "Discovery" during the STS-48 mission on 15 September 1991. It entered Earth orbit at an operational altitude of , with an orbital inclination of 57 degrees. The original mission duration was to be only three years, but was extended several times. When the mission finally ended in June 2005 due to funding cuts, 14 years after the satellite's launch, six of its ten instruments were
Atmosphere of Uranus making Uranus aquamarine or cyan in colour. Below the methane cloud deck at 1.3 bar methane molecules account for about 2.3% of the atmosphere by molar fraction; about 10 to 30 times that found in the Sun. The mixing ratio is much lower in the upper atmosphere due to the extremely low temperature at the tropopause, which lowers the saturation level and causes excess methane to freeze out. Methane appears to be undersaturated in the upper troposphere above the clouds having a partial pressure of only 30% of the saturated vapor pressure there. The concentration of less volatile compounds such