Context Camera (CTX)
A black-and-white camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that photographs strips of Mars 30 km wide at about 6 meters per pixel, giving the wide view around close-ups and tracking changes on the surface.
Why it matters
CTX images give scientists and mission planners a near-global map of Mars at a useful level of detail. They are used to find landing sites, track new impact craters and seasonal changes, and set close-up images from other instruments in context.
How the technology works
CTX takes long image strips 30 km wide as the orbiter passes over the surface, with each pixel covering about 6 meters of ground. The images frame targets imaged by the higher-resolution HiRISE camera and the CRISM spectrometer.
By February 2010 it had covered more than half of the planet.
Sources
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