ATMOS is an investigation of the chemistry and composition of the middle atmosphere using a modified Michelson interferometer designed to be carried on board the Space Shuttle. During orbital sunsets and sunrises it obtains high resolution infrared solar spectra every 2 seconds. The instrument was first flown on the Spacelab 3 mission in April, 1985, and is being reflown as part of the ATLAS series of payloads which started with the ATLAS-1 flight in March 1992. A summary of the results from the Spacelab 3 mission will be presented. These results included several first detections of critical atmospheric species in addition to the thirty or more constituents for which profiles were derived at altitudes between 10 and 150 km. Preliminary results from the ATLAS-1 mission will be described as part of an update to the status of this long term effort.

Date Published: 12 February 1993
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 1715, Optical Methods in Atmospheric Chemistry, (12 February 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.140203

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1715:
Optical Methods in Atmospheric Chemistry
Harold I. Schiff; Ulrich Platt, Editor(s)