Honeywell Analytics’ Single Point Monitor (SPM) was the gas monitoring instrumentation chosen by FEMA during the recent take-down of a U.S. spy satellite.

The SPM was deployed in a backup role to monitor for potential hydrazine gas leaks that could have reentered the atmosphere. The system uses Honeywell’s patented Chemcassette® technology, in which a chemically impregnated paper tape, highly specific to hydrazine, reacts extremely fast to the gas and can measure gas concentration in parts per billion levels. A change in color or stain on the paper indicates that the gas is present.

Paper tapes for 32 other kinds of gases, chemicals, and unidentified odors are available. The chemical methods for SPM with Chemcassette have been specially formulated and developed over 25 years of testing in controlled laboratory environments, as well as in industrial field uses. The SPM serves a variety of industries including specialty chemicals, petrochemical, fertilizer, filaments, wastewater treatment and lab analysis.