On the much-publicized Mars Pathfinder mission, Eastman Kodak Co.'s digital imaging technology played an essential role in surveying the landscape of the distant planet.
In December, the company's digital imaging sensors were again aboard a NASA mission to Mars, this time to study Mars' climate and atmosphere. The spacecraft was outfitted with wide- and medium-angle cameras. The wide-angle camera will scan the entire planet periodically at 1 km per pixel, acquiring images in five colors plus two UV spectral bands. The higher-resolution medium-angle system can take pictures in eight colors.
The sensors aboard the latest mission feature two and a half times the pixel resolution of the Kodak sensors used on the Sojourner Rover. The second Mars Survey '98 mission spacecraft, the Mars Polar Lander (which was launched last month) also features a Kodak digital sensor in its imaging system. Scheduled to land in December 1999, it will capture images more than 15,000 feet above the surface of the planet and will continue until touchdown.