CRISM is a visible-infrared imaging spectrometer with a scanable field of view. CRISM can cover wavelengths from 0.362 to 3.92 microns (362 to 3920 nanometers) at 6.55 nanometers/channel, enabling the CRISM team to identify a broad range of minerals on the Martian surface.
CRISM is flying on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, launched in August 2005 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory managed CRISM's development.