Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite between positions downrange, generally northeast of this position. 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
Atmosphere of Venus almost purely zonal flow. In contrast, the circulation in the Earth's atmosphere is governed by the geostrophic balance. Venus's windspeeds can be directly measured only in the upper troposphere (tropopause), between 60–70 km, altitude, which corresponds to the upper cloud deck. The cloud motion is usually observed in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, where the contrast between clouds is the highest. The linear wind speeds at this level are about 100 ± 10 m/s at lower than 50° latitude. They are retrograde in the sense that they blow in the direction of the retrograde rotation of the planet. The