ESA activities in preparation of future atmospheric composition sounding missions

The European Space Agency has currently a strong atmospheric chemistry component in its Earth observation programme. The GOME instrument operating onboard ERS-2 since 1995 will be followed by three innovative spectrometers on Envisat to be launched in 2000: GOMOS, MIPAS and SCIAMACHY, observing the atmosphere from the ground to the mesosphere at wavelengths between 240 nm and 14.6 /spl mu/m. Anticipating Envisat and foreign atmospheric chemistry missions being implemented, programmatic and scientific activities for potential future missions are pursued.