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Space Station To Get HD Streaming Video Camera
superglaze writes "A high-definition streaming video camera is to be installed on the International Space Station within a year. Built in the UK, the camera will hopefully provide a Google Earth-quality view on our planet, and the stream will be viewable — complete with zooming and panning capabilities — on the web."
Better start getting in line for tickets.
There's a company here in Calgary, Alberta that is going to operate this camera, and right now they are raising money through a participation fund. The question is, how will they actually monetize this video feed? It can't be cheap to operate and while I can see a lot of people taking a look here and a look there, I think it won't attract repeat viewers (similar to a webcam of Times Square, you look once, say it's neat and call it good). So how do you actually make the money needed to make it viable in the long term?
Too expensive said NASA.
This will be pretty cool to zone out with. Pop on Space Station Soma, the stream, and off to lala land you go
Finally, they turned on that HD switch, but, is it for life?
And how are they going to handle multiple viewers wanting to operate the camera at the same time?
Sig?
Now the astronauts can look for nude sunbathers like the rest of the government surveillance personnel.
Wouldn't the answer have been there are too many already?
I remember reading just recently that the internet speed available on the ISS is basically akin to dial-up. Do they intend to setup an alternate (and obviously faster) data stream?
Now the Russians can watch me showering from space! Sweet! ***In Soviet Russia, sky looks down at you!
Snarky
Interesting, I wonder what they'll do when some lucky watcher catches a glimpse of the stealth blimp with this camera....
http://www.thestealthblimp.com/
point it right at the sun. Easy way to break what will turn out to be a multi-million dollar venture. Just don't send me the bill.
but they only have dial up http://www.pcworld.com/article/235031/space_station_internet_too_slow_for_gaming.html
Too expensive said NASA.
But they built it anyway, and it sits in storage because no one has a launch plan.
Aka the Triana although the official marketing name was the DSCOVR
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_Climate_Observatory
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
They must of priced it using those monster HD cables rated for space.
It's about time that NASA pushes something like this forward. Sure, it's sad to see the shuttle fleet stand down but it's hardly unexpected. NASA does such a bad job connecting the public to space. So much so that when congress decides to decommission America's only access to space we don't bother to write our legislators. Sure, we've heard the stories about trickle-down technologies - but we want pictures. We want adventure. We want to go ourselves. Look at all the attention Branson's Virgin Galactic has received for a relatively old-hat space technology. They're not even going orbital and they've attracted hundreds of individuals who stake small fortunes for five minutes of space.
If NASA ever wants to increase their budget beyond that of the air conditioning budget for the military - they're simply going to have to sell it to the public. Having a nice HD camera up there is a step in the right direction.
http://gizmodo.com/5813257/air-conditioning-our-military-costs-more-than-nasas-entire-budget
I wonder how many "Prohibited" areas will be input into the cameras control software. It wasn't too long ago that you couldn't see the White House & other major locations on several major map services (Bing, Google, etc) because the areas had been blurred/pixelated due to "security concerns" (see security theater).
What's wrong with some space-qualified off-the-shelf commercial broadcast camera? Might be considerably cheaper.
Hasselblad went to the moon.
Nikon went on various spacewalks.
I remember talk of this in my section/branch at Goddard. Do you know which group actually designed/built it? I left in '97, but I remember grumbled comments about Gore's satellite with an HD feed, intended to sit at the L1 point. We built many small explorer satellites for expendable rockets and payload groups for shuttle flights.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
The interesting bit of that being, NASA said it was a waste of money on their very limited budget, it got built anyway, and then the 100 million dollar pile sat in storage for 10 years. Now the Obama administration (why does anyone but NASA get to decide what to do) wants to repurpose it as a solar observer instead to replace ACE.
That thing might never see space. Your tax dollars at work, folks.
There is already (since Feb 2010) a stereoscopic 720p HDTV camera on the ISS, called ERB-2, with the ability to send live 3D streams down to Earth:
http://www.stereoscopynews.com/hotnews/hotnews-1/hotnews-2/1356-erb-2--the-most-expensive-3d-camera.html
http://www.esa.int/esaMI/magisstra/SEM8M7QOHEG_0.html
a Bigelow unit added by 2013/2014. Seriously. This could be used for commercial space by private space companies. They could put up more astronauts for short visits.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
See http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/25/urthecast-to-stream-live-hd-footage-of-earth-from-iss-like-stic/ and http://www.gizmag.com/urthecast-earth-video-platform/19020/ for more details. Video 3.25fps @ 1m/pixel, Stills @ 10m/pixel. Sounds kind of odd, dunnit?
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
Didn't anyone read that story when they were young?
because no one has a launch plan.
Here it is: give it to Space-X. They need to prove their mettle at high altitudes and storing the satellite is costing money.
Charge whatever an IMAX-3D movie costs at the time for 15 seconds of satellite time (manage the details ahead of time in a queue set up on a website). Give the JPEG as a novelty birthday gift, merchandise the pictures with Zazzle, etc.
Space-X and NASA can split the revenue. Break-even in about 3-5 years, depending on how big a team is needed to manage ops and business.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I can see the headline now:
Astronauts Worry That HD Camera's Strain on Internet Connection Will Interfere With Ability to Check Facebook From Space
Yeah, if you want something to blow up on lift off or crash shortly after liftoff the clowns at SpaceX are the ones to pick.
For people and stuff you actually want to get into orbit...
Hey, atleast we all can watch live UFO's :-)