Performance of the MAPS Carbon Monoxide Experiment

Abstract

The MAPS (Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites) experiment, which flew as part of the OSTA-1 payload on the second flight of the Space Shuttle (STS-2) during early November 1981, was the first attempt to measure a known air pollutant in the troposphere from an orbiting platform. The experiment was designed to remotely measure the mixing ratio of carbon monoxide in the middle and upper troposphere using a gas filter radiometer as the sensing instrument.