The TIMED (Thermosphere • Ionosphere • Mesosphere • Energetics and Dynamics) mission is dedicated to study the influences energetics and dynamics of the Sun and humans on the least explored and understood region of Earth's atmosphere – the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere / Ionosphere (MLTI). The mission was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on 7 December 2001 aboard a Delta II rocket launch vehicle. The project is sponsored and managed by NASA, while the spacecraft was designed and assembled by the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. The mission has been extended several times, and has now collected data over an entire solar cycle, which helps in its goal to differentiate the Sun's effects on the atmosphere from other effects. TIMED Was Launched Alongside Jason-1. Atmospheric region under study The Mesosphere, Lower Thermosphere and Ionosphere (MLTI) region of the atmosphere to be studied by TIMED is located between above the Earth's surface, where energy from solar radiation is first deposited into the atmosphere. This can have profound effects on Earth's upper atmospheric regions, particularly during the peak of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle when the greatest amounts of its energy are being released. Understanding these interactions is also important for our understanding of various subjects in geophysics, meteorology, aeronomy, and atmospheric science, as solar radiation is one of the primary driving forces behind atmospheric tides. Changes in the MLT can also affect modern satellite and radio telecommunications. Scientific instruments The spacecraft payload consists of the following four main instruments: Global Ultraviolet Imager (GUVI), which scans cross track from horizon to horizon to measure the spatial and temporal variations of temperature and constituent densities in the lower thermosphere, and to determine the importance of auroral energy sources and solar extreme ultraviolet sources to the energy balance in that region. Solar Extreme ultraviolet Experiment (SEE), a spectrometer and a suite of photometers designed to measure the solar soft X-rays, extreme-ultraviolet and far-ultraviolet radiation that is deposited into the MLT region. TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI), designed to globally measure the wind and temperature profiles of the MLT region. Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER), multichannel radiometer designed to measure heat emitted by the atmosphere over a broad altitude and spectral range, as well as global temperature profiles and sources of atmospheric cooling. The data collected by the satellite's instruments are made freely available to the public.