Aura orbits the Earth among a constellation of Earth Observing Satellites. This constellation will include satellites flying in different types of orbits and those flying in formation where the orbits are nearly the same. The constellation is illustrated in the figure but the major players in the formation (the "A Train") include Aura, its sister ship, Aqua (launched in 2002), CloudSat and Calipso (will be launched in about 2003). These missions will coordinate their observations on clouds, upper tropospheric water vapor, and tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures and aerosols, which are all important components of climate forcing. Each satellite carries instruments that will measure these parameters in different ways thus providing more comprehensive measurements and also provide a means of cross validating the accuracy of the data products.

The satellites will perform occasional maneuvers, about one or two rocket burns per year, to stay in formation. Aqua's equator crossing time will range from 1:30 to 1:45 pm and Aura's will range from 1:30 to 2:00 pm, but their orbit planes will not be allowed to cross. The nominal separation between Aqua and Aura are about 15 minutes. Aura's limb viewing instruments will measure the same portion of the Earth as Aqua's nadir viewing instruments to within eight minutes. The separation between Cloudsat and Calipso is only about 15 seconds and they are both about six minutes behind Aqua. The orbits have to be carefully managed so that there is clear ground station access for the satellites to down-link their data as well as to keep the satellites from getting dangerously close to each other. GOES and Triana achieve nearly instantaneous, but less detailed global views from their geo-stationary and L1 orbits. These vantage points will provide a very different perspective of the atmosphere than viewed by the "A Train".