Operating of the superconducting integrated receiver channel of the TELIS atmospheric sounder. ... The noise temperature of the SIR was measured to be as low as 120 K, with an intermediate frequency band of 4 ­ 8 GHz in double sideband operation; the spectral resolution is well below 1 MHz. The SIR was implemented in the three-channel balloon-borne instrument TELIS (TErahertz and submillimeter LImb Sounder) that detects spectral emission lines of stratospheric trace gases (like ClO and BrO). ...