An evaluation of the effects that the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) has on the retrieval of pressure, temperature and the five primary target gases (O 3 , H 2 O, CH 4 , N 2 O, and HNO 3 ) from spectra to be taken by Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on the Envisat-1 platform has been conducted. For doing so, non-LTE and LTE limb radiances in the spectral range of 680-2275 cm - 1 (4.15-14.6 μm) with a resolution of 0.05 cm - 1 at tangent heights from 10 to 70 km have been computed. These calculations included the most updated non-LTE populations of a large number of vibrational levels of the CO 2 , O 3 , H 2 O, CH 4 , N 2 O and HNO 3 molecules which cause the most prominent atmospheric infrared emissions. A discussion of the most important non-LTE effects on the limb radiances as well as on the retrievals of pressure-temperature and volume mixing ratios of O 3 , H 2 O, CH 4 , N 2 O, and HNO 3 is presented, together with the most important non-LTE issues that could be studied with the future coming of MIPAS data.