[1] The Context Camera (CTX) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a Facility Instrument (i.e., government-furnished equipment operated by a science team not responsible for design and fabrication) designed, built, and operated by Malin Space Science Systems and the MRO Mars Color Imager team (MARCI). CTX will (1) provide context images for data acquired by other MRO instruments, (2) observe features of interest to NASA's Mars Exploration Program (e.g., candidate landing sites), and (3) conduct a scientific investigation, led by the MARCI team, of geologic, geomorphic, and meteorological processes on Mars. CTX consists of a digital electronics assembly; a 350 mm f/3.25 Schmidt-type telescope of catadioptric optical design with a 5.7°field of view, providing a $30-km-wide swath from $290 km altitude; and a 5000-element CCD with a band pass of 500-700 nm and 7 mm pixels, giving $6 m/pixel spatial resolution from MRO's nearly circular, nearly polar mapping orbit. Raw data are transferred to the MRO spacecraft flight computer for processing (e.g., data compression) before transmission to Earth. The ground data system and operations are based on 9 years of Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera on-orbit experience. CTX has been allocated 12% of the total MRO data return, or about !3 terabits for the nominal mission. This data volume would cover $9% of Mars at 6 m/pixel, but overlapping images (for stereo, mosaics, and observation of changes and meteorological events) will reduce this area. CTX acquired its first (instrument checkout) images of Mars on 24 March 2006.

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The presence of a globally extant equatorial belt of water ice clouds on Mars is quantitatively investigated using data from three seasons of our Hubble Space Telescope synoptic monitoring program (1993–1997). A subset of the 1996–1997 images covers the landing site of the Mars Pathfinder including a set of images taken after touchdown. Using multicolor imaging from the Wide Field Planetary Camera and the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, we characterize both water ice cloud and dust optical depths as a function of latitude at several local times for each observing epoch. The analysis technique models calibrated data using a multiple scattering radiative transfer code. Our results support the initial results of Clancy et al. [1996a] regarding changes between the aphelion and perihelion climate of Mars and provide a more detailed look at the development and decay of the cloud belt. Comparing our dust optical depths to those of the Viking landers for the same seasons, we note a trend toward lower dust loading in late northern winter and in spring. Our observations of the Pathfinder site in July 1997 reveal a dust opacity in good agreement with that reported by Pathfinder [Smith et al., 1997b]. In addition, the serendipitous occurrence of a dust storm in Valles Marineris in late June 1997 allows us to derive a set of dust single scattering albedos for use in more accurately modeling the dust's radiative properties and effects.

Abstract. We have used Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer thermal emission measurements to derive the thermal inertia of the Martian surface at the -100-km spatial scale. We have validated the use of nighttime-only measurements to derive thermal inertia as well as the use of a single wavelength band versus bolometric thermal emission measurements. We have also reanalyzed the Viking IniYared Thermal Mapper data set in a similar manner in order to allow a direct comparison between the two. Within the uncertainties of the fit of the data to the model, and the uncertainties inherent in the model, the thermal inertia has not changed substantially in the 21 years between the Viking and the MGS measurements. Although some differences are seen, they are most likely due to changes in albedo during the intervening years or to residual effects of airborne dust that are not fully accounted for in the thermal models. The thermal inertia values that we derive, between about 24 and 800 J m '2 s -m K -•, are thought to better represent the actual thermal inertia of the Martian surface than previous estimates.

The Test Anxiety Inventory for Children and Adolescents (TAICA) is a new multidimensional measure used to assess test anxiety in elementary and secondary school students. The TAICA is a 45-item self-report measure consisting of a Total Test Anxiety scale, four debilitating test anxiety subscales (Cognitive Obstruction/Inattention, Physiological Hyperarousal, Social Humiliation, and Worry), a facilitating test anxiety scale (Performance Enhancement/ Facilitation Anxiety), and a Lie scale. In the present study, the psychometric properties of the TAICA scores are examined with a volunteer sample of 206 children and adolescents. Results of the study indicate that the TAICA scores have strong to very strong internal consistency reliability and temporal stability (1- to 3-week test-retest interval). Evidence supporting the construct validity of the TAICA scores was found.