Posted by
chrisd
on from the sorry-no-wishlist dept.
mpd2014 writes "When the next shuttle takes off to the space station on October 2nd it will have a new webcam attached to the external tank that is sure to provide spectacular images. If you're interested in the schematics and technical details NASA has also made those available."
personally, i'm looking forward to alien/spacewoman upskirt shots...
and everyone is thinking...
by
Prong_Thunder
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· Score: 3, Funny
"hey, I can see my house from here"
It has been onboard already
by
jukal
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· Score: 5, Informative
According to this release by the company which makes the RocketCams: "2002 Aug 21: Two Ecliptic RocketCam(TM) systems have provided launch-to-orbit onboard views during the inaugural launch of the Atlas 5 rocket. The launch was a complete success, taking Eutelsat's Hotbird 6 comsat from Cape Canaveral and placing it into the desired transfer orbit. Both RocketCam(TM) cameras captured dramatic views looking aft: one from outside the Atlas 5's second-stage skin and one from inside the aft end of the second stage. "
Apparently, this is just the first time it can be publicly accessed.
Re:It has been onboard already
by
FrostedWheat
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· Score: 5, Informative
And this section of there website, you can view these videos. Very much publicly accessible.
They even provide MPEGs for those Quicktime-impared.
The good pictures will be from seperation and re-entry.
I still think they should fly the otherwise wasted tank into orbit to be used as parts or huge additions to the space station.
Multiply the space station's internal volume by 10 in just one trip. After all the tank is a high pressure vessel. It should be able to hold 14.5 lb/sq in atmospheric.
Just give the shuttle a bit more power, drop the boosters and park the tank next to ISS.
Would make ISS look like a toy.
--
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
Re:Not liftoff
by
DeanAsh
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· Score: 3, Insightful
The shuttle main engines have been placed central to the mass of the joined shuttle/tank. The OMS engines (Orbital Maneuvering System), being placed much higher, are not. I expect the shuttle would tumble in orbit if the OMS were activated with the tank attached.
The reaction-control jets will have similar troubles. Remember the control problems the astronauts in Apollo 13 faced when trying to control the LEM with the command/service modules still joined?
--
What is the shortest sig that cannot be expressed in fewer than 20 words?
I agree 100% about reusing the Shuttle's External Tanks.
NASA must have a giant stick up its ass to bring the ETs almost completely into orbit, only to let them burn up in the atmosphere.
I still haven't heard a reasonable explaination as to why this great idea has been ignored for so long. IMO, it's because the idea of "Reuse/Recycle/Reduce" is not compatible with getting maximum tax funding. They'd rather blow billions on a shiny new ISS (where maintenance consumes scientific work) than on boosting and retrofitting the large ETs.
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-- Power to the Peaceful
Re:Not liftoff
by
Guppy06
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· Score: 3, Informative
"The good pictures will be from seperation and re-entry."
Um... no. Obviously you haven't seen this flick here (some stills are available here). The video from a similar camera mounted on a Delta II is simply stunning. Seriously, I can't begin to describe how beautiful it is, you need to go watch it. I have yet to get tired of watching it.
Re-entry pictures are going to be few if any. But I'm already drooling at the thought of video like this from a shuttle launch.
Yes.. but think of how it would look if we have another challenger incident:)
Hmmmm... some weird loops, the cam is annihilated, the cam windows blacks and you'd still have to tune into CNN to find out what is going on?
-- +++ath0
Re:hope it doesnt get /.ed
by
billstr78
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· Score: 4, Interesting
It will. Unless the frame rate is extremely low, an event of this popularity will quickly consume a 100Mb/sec line. This was the max Ames Research Center (NASA) could host a couple of years ago, but they are probably going with a 3rd party provider. Let's hope they have lots of high bandwith mirrors load balanced and sprikled accross the country. This is the inherernt problem with a popular live event comensing at one specific moment and using at least 20Kb/sec per viewer. I am not saying it won't go off without a hitch, but when I interned at Ames, every event we hosted saturated the 100Mbit/sec line we had that went straight to an OC21 backbone pipe.
It's a Rocketcam! Wohoo!
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3, Informative
This is really what the shuttle has been missing. After watching dozens of launches through streaming meadia, shuttle really has been behind Delta and others which have had the rocketcam for years. I am sure going to be following the next launch closely.
This, after looking at the specs and designs they have online, is a regular camera with a regular NASA style live RF feed back to ground control... The only thing that could possibly make it a webcam would be that someone would take that video feed and encode it for the web. Something they did not mention was going to happen.
calling that a webcam is the same as calling a studio camera and camera crew a webcam... It is another monitoring camera / eye-candy camera added to the shuttle launch vehicle.. IT is identical to most cameras that NASA uses on it's launch vehicles.
Too bad that it's a throw-away one time use item.... it's built like a tank and would probably last 100 years at a weather station or pointing at my back yard.
The name of the story was, "Tank Farm Dynamo" about a privatized effort to reuse external tank, written by David Brin. I read it as part of a collection bound in dead tree form, but it's available on the web at: http://www.orbit6.com/et/tankfarm.htm
-- The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Slashdot Mirror
personally, i'm looking forward to alien/spacewoman upskirt shots...
"hey, I can see my house from here"
Apparently, this is just the first time it can be publicly accessed.
The good pictures will be from seperation and re-entry.
I still think they should fly the otherwise wasted tank into orbit to be used as parts or huge additions to the space station.
Multiply the space station's internal volume by 10 in just one trip. After all the tank is a high pressure vessel. It should be able to hold 14.5 lb/sq in atmospheric.
Just give the shuttle a bit more power, drop the boosters and park the tank next to ISS.
Would make ISS look like a toy.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
Hmmmm... some weird loops, the cam is annihilated, the cam windows blacks and you'd still have to tune into CNN to find out what is going on?
+++ath0
It will. Unless the frame rate is extremely low, an event of this popularity will quickly consume a 100Mb/sec line. This was the max Ames Research Center (NASA) could host a couple of years ago, but they are probably going with a 3rd party provider. Let's hope they have lots of high bandwith mirrors load balanced and sprikled accross the country. This is the inherernt problem with a popular live event comensing at one specific moment and using at least 20Kb/sec per viewer. I am not saying it won't go off without a hitch, but when I interned at Ames, every event we hosted saturated the 100Mbit/sec line we had that went straight to an OC21 backbone pipe.
This is really what the shuttle has been missing. After watching dozens of launches through streaming meadia, shuttle really has been behind Delta and others which have had the rocketcam for years. I am sure going to be following the next launch closely.
c am.shtml.
For previous rocketcam footage, check http://www.eclipticenterprises.com/gallery_rocket
This, after looking at the specs and designs they have online, is a regular camera with a regular NASA style live RF feed back to ground control... The only thing that could possibly make it a webcam would be that someone would take that video feed and encode it for the web. Something they did not mention was going to happen.
calling that a webcam is the same as calling a studio camera and camera crew a webcam... It is another monitoring camera / eye-candy camera added to the shuttle launch vehicle.. IT is identical to most cameras that NASA uses on it's launch vehicles.
Too bad that it's a throw-away one time use item.... it's built like a tank and would probably last 100 years at a weather station or pointing at my back yard.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
10...9...8...7...EMERGENCY LAUNCH HOLD!
"We have a warning light!" "What's wrong!" "The External Fuel Tank, It's The Camera. It melted."
The name of the story was, "Tank Farm Dynamo" about a privatized effort to reuse external tank, written by David Brin. I read it as part of a collection bound in dead tree form, but it's available on the web at: http://www.orbit6.com/et/tankfarm.htm
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.