NASA’s High Definition Earth Viewing experiment (HDEV) is now live-streaming views of our planet from space captured by HD cameras.
HDEV placed four commercial HD video cameras on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS).
The cameras, made by four different companies – Hitachi, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba, are enclosed in a temperature specific housing and are exposed to the harsh radiation of space.
Analysis of the effect of space on the video quality may help NASA engineers decide which cameras are the best types to use on future missions.
ISS orbits our planet once every 90 minutes and experiences a sunrise or a sunset about every 45 minutes. When the station is in darkness, video may appear black.
HDEV operates one camera at a time and is designed so that when the system is initially powered on, after a 1-2 minute warm up period, the cameras are turned on one at a time in a repeating cycle.
The forward looking camera is powered first, followed by the nadir and each aft looking camera, such that HDEV video ‘follows’ a location on the Earth as ISS passes overhead.
This auto-cycle mode does not require any input from ground operators, so the cameras can be operated any time that ISS power and data resources are available, without requiring a ground controller present to operate the payload.
The only command required, is the initial ‘power on’ command, which is performed by ESA’s Columbus Control Center. Alternately as desired by ground controllers, HDEV video can be commanded.
The live stream is available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iss-hdev-payload
For a display of the current location of ISS visit http://iss.astroviewer.net
