The European Space Agency has just stepped up the standards of the camera. They’ve created Gaia. In Greek mythology, the name Gaia refers to the Titan that is the grandmother or mother of most gods in Greek mythology. With that in mind, the name is more than appropriate for this monster of a camera. Gaia is a camera that will help map out the Milky Way in 3D, using one billion pixels that is. For a better camera comparison, that would be one thousand megapixels. It’s estimated that if one uses this camera on earth they could see “the thumbnails of the person on the moon.” Gaia is set to launch on a Soyuz-Fregat launch vehicle in 2013 .

(via ESA)