It may not be the first (or even second or third) satellite mission that comes to mind but NASA and JHUAPL’s TIMED mission continues to deliver invaluable data about Earth’s upper atmosphere over 15 years after its launch on Dec. 7, 2001. In fact its extended long-duration stay in orbit has allowed TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) to completely change what we thought we knew about how the uppermost layers of our atmosphere react to incoming storms from the Sun…and how it’s being affected by increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from below.

Read more at TIMED Marches On — 15 Years and Counting