Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS)

NASA’s Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) investigated the balance of solar energy absorbed and radiation emitted by Earth, alongside stratospheric composition. Launched aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on October 5, 1984, it carried scanning and nonscanning Earth Radiation Budget Experiment instruments and the SAGE II solar-occultation instrument. Its observations supported studies of ozone, aerosols, volcanic effects and climate over more than two decades. The mission retired in 2005, while the inactive spacecraft remained in orbit until reentry in January 2023. Instrument-specific data periods differ from the spacecraft’s full orbital lifetime.