MOPITT

Following its construction in Canada, MOPITT was launched into Earth's orbit in 1999 and utilizes gas correlation spectroscopy to measure the presence of different gases in the troposphere.

It was successfully launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on December 18, 1999, and began scientific measurements in March 2000.

Before its execution, the only existing global carbon monoxide dataset was measured by the MAPS instrument aboard space shuttles.

It is part of a series of five payloads on the Terra satellite that oversees global environmental changes:[1][4] Despite the initial five-year term plan, the satellite has continued to operate for over 20 years, and researchers expect all five of these instruments to maintain their functionality and transmit information and data past 2026.

Essentially, MOPITT takes carbon monoxide as an optical filter to measure the signal of the same gas in the troposphere.

To further analyze carbon monoxide levels, MOPITT adjusts the path length or gaseous pressure of the gas sample, causing the frequency of these spectral lines to vary, which will give a difference and an average transmission.