- Todd
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ATLAS UPDATE, 16 November 1994
Last month science teams at the Spacelab Mission Operations Control
Center in Huntsville, Ala., monitored the activities of atmospheric
instruments for the third Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and
Science (ATLAS 3) mission. The ATLAS 3 mission was conducted in
conjunction with the Space Shuttle Atlantis mission STS-66.
Preliminary results, available for the first time during an ATLAS
mission, continue to provide scientists and the crew with insights to
both the investigations and the processes occurring in the atmosphere.
Among the results to date is the detection of increasing amounts of
Freon-22 in the stratosphere. This chemical, used as a replacement for
Chlorofluorocarbons, is not as great a threat as Chlorofluorocarbons to
the ozone layer, but is still a growing source of stratospheric
chlorine.
The Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) experiment viewed
sunrises and sunsets through the Earth's atmospheric limb, measuring
the trace gases involved in the chemistry of the stratosphere and
mesosphere. The ATMOS onboard recorder neared capacity, and most
observations were downlinked live from the orbiter Atlantis throughout
the mission.
ATMOS Principal Investigator Dr. Mike Gunson commented that the data
are posing a "challenging scientific puzzle" as well as providing a
"really interesting story to tell about the ozone hole and the
processes leading to its formation." "I'm really happy with the way
things have gone," he added. "Enormously successful is almost an
understatement at this point."
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- T o d d E. V a n H o o s e a r -
``'''vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu - vanhoose@msu.edu - vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu
(._.) Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI USA
(_) Computer Laboratory - Department of Communication
`---' <A HREF="http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/">My Home Page</A>
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