NASA employed Comtal's processors to process the first clear images from the surface of Mars as broadcast by the Viking program's space probes in 1976. NASA also used Comtal's processors to process transmissions of Jupiter by Voyager 2 in 1977. NASA previously commissioned Comtal in 1974 for the creation of the Portable Image Display Systems (PIDS)—an image processor designed for training geologists using sample Landsat satellite imagery as captured by MSS sensors—at the Stennis Space Center's Earth Resources Laboratory.
