Eastman Kodak Company digital imaging technology, which played a key role on the Mars Pathfinder Mission Rover, is going back to Mars. This time, Kodak solid-state imaging sensors are on board the Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO), one of
the two spacecraft of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars Surveyor '98 Mission. Launched on December 11 from Cape Canaveral, the Mars Climate Orbiter will focus on gaining a better understanding of Mars' atmosphere and climate history. The MCO science payload includes the Mars Color Imager (MARCI), a camera system that uses two Kodak image sensors.
The MARCI was developed by Malin Space Science Systems, Inc.
(MSSS), of San Diego, Calif.. It consists of two separate cameras:
a wide-angle (140 deg) field of view system and a medium-angle (8
deg) system. These instruments will acquire multi-spectral images
at two resolutions: the wide-angle will cover the entire planet on
a periodic basis at one km/pixel, while the medium-angle will image
selected areas at 40 m/pixel. The wide-angle system can acquire
images in five colors plus two ultraviolet spectral bands, while
the higher-resolution medium-angle system can take pictures in
eight colors. Each MARCI system uses one Kodak KAI-1001, which is
a 1000 by 1000 pixel format sensor.
"The sensors on this Mars mission provide 2.5 times the pixel
resolution of the Kodak sensors used on the Sojourner Rover," said
Willy Shih, vice president, Eastman Kodak Company, and president,
Digital & Applied Imaging. "The MARCI image quality will be
dramatically improved over what we saw from Sojourner."
The second Mars Survey '98 Mission spacecraft, the Mars Polar
Lander (MPL), will carry another MSSS-developed camera that uses
the Kodak KAI-1001 sensor, the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). The
Mars Polar Lander will be launched in January 1999 and is expected
to land on Mars in December 1999. MARDI is mounted on the
underside of the MPL spacecraft and will acquire a series of
black-and-white images as the craft descends through the
atmosphere. This camera will begin to capture images at
approximately 15,000 feet above the planet's surface and will
continue all the way to touchdown.
After the successful launch last week, the Mars Climate Orbiter
is scheduled to reach Mars in September 1999. Following
aerobraking to put it into a circular orbit and support of Mars
Polar Lander operations, MCO will observe Mars for one Martian year
(about two Earth years). During this period, MARCI will observe
Martian atmospheric processes at a global scale and study details
of the interaction of the atmosphere with the surface at a variety
of scales in both space and time. Scientists will use the data
gathered from this mission to learn about the Earth by comparing it
to Mars and to build a comprehensive data set to aid in planning
and carrying out future missions.
"Kodak's image sensors were the only ones to feature the
combination of a mega pixel device and an electronic shutter
design," said Dr. Michael Caplinger of MSSS. "The electronic
shutter was particularly critical for the design of these cameras
because a mechanical shutter would have added too much weight and
complexity." The innovative electronics architecture of MARCI and
MARDI uses a digital signal processor to generate clock signals for
the Kodak KAI-1001 and to process the resulting digital imagery.
In addition to developing these two instruments for Mars Surveyor
'98, MSSS is responsible for the camera on the Mars Global
Surveyor, currently orbiting Mars.
