MIPAS on ENVISAT

The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) is the first high resolution Fouriertransform spectrometer for limb sounding from satellite. MIPAS is an ESA-developed instrument for flight on the ENVISAT environmental satellite. This paper summarises the performance requirements imposed on MIPAS and outlines the design solutions, which are considered a good compromise between complexity and performance