The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) is one of the ten instruments onboard the Envisat satellite launched from Kourou (French Guyana) on the 28th February 2002 and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It operates as a Fourier transform spectrometer for the measurement of high-resolution gaseous emission spectra at the Earth's limb. It operates in the near- to mid-infrared, where many of the main atmospheric trace gases have important emission features. Its main objectives are to provide simultaneous and global measurements of the middle atmosphere dynamics, radiation budget and chemical composition (O3, H2O, CH4, N2O, HNO3, NO2), and to monitor stratospheric ozone and CFCs.