Feature request: atmospheric remote sensing

[Starstrider42]

While thinking about the biodrill, it occurred to me that there's one combination of experiment parameters you haven't done yet: a space experiment that requires an atmosphere. What do you think of putting in a weather/climate remote sensing instrument? I've no specific requests on the exact choice of instrument, but it seems like a niche worth filling.

[DMagic1]

I sort-of have two ideas related to atmospheric sensors, though these are really only half-formed.

One is a something along the lines of the Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter that is designed to study the composition of Mars' atmosphere. That's something along the lines of what you're suggesting; an orbital-only, atmospheric-only experiment.

The other is some kind of planetary gas and/or solar particle collector. In high space it would collect solar particles, in low space it collect some kind of near-planetary dust, and flying high in the atmosphere it would collect an atmospheric sample.