About | UrtheCast

About UrtheCast

UrtheCast (pronounced “EarthCast”) is a company created around a unique vision: to provide the world’s first ever, live HD video feed of Earth from space.

Working in an exclusive relationship with world-famous Russian Aerospace giant RSC Energia, UrtheCast is building, launching, installing, and operating two cameras on the Russian module of the International Space Station. Starting next year, video data of the Earth collected by our cameras will be down-linked to ground stations around the planet and then displayed in near real time on the UrtheCast web platform or distributed directly to our exclusive partners and customers.

How It Will Work





Footage courtesy of NASA, timelines and information are subject to change



The International Space Station (ISS) is a low Earth human-inhabited satellite, by far the largest and most ambitious ever built. The station travels at 26,000 km per hour and orbits the Earth 16 times a day at an altitude of approximately 350 km. Read more.The ISS travels around the Earth in a wave pattern from approximately 52 degrees latitude north to 52 degrees south. It is a research facility that is a partnership between the Russian, European, Canadian, Japanese and US space agencies.

The UrtheCast web platform will allow Users to constantly track the location of the ISS, anticipating when it will pass over a particular geographic location of interest. The two UrtheCast cameras, one medium resolution and one high resolution, will be built by the UK’s world-famous Rutherford Appleton Laboratories (RAL) and will be installed on the Russian module of the ISS.
The imagery collected by our cameras will be compressed, down-linked to various ground-based reception stations around the globe, and then transmitted to our operations center. Once there, the data stream will be uncompressed, streamed to servers around the planet, and then uploaded to the UrtheCast web platform where it can be viewed, downloaded and manipulated by Users around the world.
UrtheCast web platform Users will be able to search for videos of a particular location, type or theme. Like a personal video recorder, the web platform will allow Users the ability to interact with the HD video feed in real time as it is fed from our servers. Users will be able to zoom in and out, to “virtually” steer the camera from side to side, to rewind, and to fast forward as they check out areas and things of interest on the Earth. Show less.


            
            
						The Platform
			
The UrtheCast web platform will feel like a blending of a video version of GoogleEarth with the video playback and search functionality of YouTube. Read more.It will operate seamlessly with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

With the world’s first and only near real time high definition video from space, the UrtheCast experience will be truly unique and will generate significant awareness, publicity and User interest world-wide:

Enabling a uniquely powerful perspective on major international news stories like the crisis at Fukushima, the public uprising in Tahrir square, or refugee camps in the Sudan
Empowering students with a rich educational perspective for viewing the wonders of the planet in a manner never before possible
Unlocking human creativity and ingenious user generated content with events like flash crowds, innovative wedding proposals, and “the wave” at sporting events
Creating a singular vantage point for observing environmental events around the world with recent and relevant video footage of earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, droughts and the effects of environmental change
Providing a vehicle for innumerable gaming and cross-platform media applications and partnerships across the entertainment and social media spectrum

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             			Management
			


Scott Larson
President



Scott Larson | President
Mr. Larson’s career bridges technology and finance in both entrepreneurial and investment banking roles. He has directly advised over 75 companies on their corporate finance strategies assisting them through the capital raising process; from structuring, facilitating, and ultimately closing. He co-founded of one of the original online financial portals, launched in 1995 and then spent the next five years directly involved in online portal development and online asset management.




Wade Larson
Co-Founder & Executive Vice-President



Wade Larson | Co-Founder & Executive Vice-President
Mr. Larson has over 17 years of space sector experience at the Canadian Space Agency and at MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Corporation (MDA), Canada’s largest space company. He has extensive, global experience in space-related business development, strategy development, government relations, international relations and policy formulation. Mr. Larson developed the original vision for the UrtheCast venture.




Dr. George Tyc
Chief Technology Advisor



Dr. George Tyc | Chief Technology Advisor
Dr. Tyc is a recognized leader in the space industry having worked on numerous space missions and technology development programs over the last 25 years. As a Technical Director at MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates (MDA), he has had leadership roles on many initiatives which included being responsible for developing MDA’s next generation high resolution optical earth observation satellite system. He was also the Chief Engineer for the end-to-end system developed for the earth imaging company RapidEye AG, which involved a constellation of five small earth observation satellites and associated ground processing systems.




Cameron Chell
Co-Founder & Director, Web Platform Development



Cameron Chell | Co-Founder & Director, Web Platform Development
Mr. Chell was the founder of FutureLink, the world’s first Application Service Provider (ASP). FutureLink initiated the ASP industry and grew to a multi-billion market cap. He has been an integral part of the development and management of various other successful technology ventures.




Serguei Bedziouk, PhD
Director, Russian Relations




Serguei Bedziouk, PhD | Director, Russian Relations
Dr. Bedziouk has built a distinguished career in the Aerospace and Advanced Science industries. He has 18 years of international experience in marketing, development, and contract negotiations at senior government levels with the Russian Aerospace Industry. As well, he spent 12 years working with the Canadian Space Agency and 11 years with Rocket Space Corporation Energia in Russia. He was also the primary manager for a number of international projects implemented on the Russian Segment of the International Space Station (ISS). Those projects included two scientific Canadian Space Agency payload installations and the successful marketing initiative of Element 21 Corp. Dr. Bedziouk’s experience will help ensure the successful installation of the UrtheCast cameras on the ISS.




Robert Kennedy
Financing & Strategic Initiatives



Robert Kennedy | Financing & Strategic Initiatives
Mr. Kennedy has been a strategic finance partner for several successful companies over the past decade. This includes most recently a leading music company that has grown from $8 million to over $400 million in revenue, now with more than 1,500 employees in 39 countries, to become the largest in-store music provider.




John Ellis, MBE
Program Manager | UK



John Ellis, MBE | Program Manager, UK
Mr. Ellis has had a distinguished career within the UK Space Business sector. He has carried out business development responsibilities for BAe Space Systems, EADS Astrium and for The Science and Technology Facilities Council. As Head of the Technology Exploitation Division of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Space Department he spun out a space camera company which was eventually sold to a major space corporation. Mr. Ellis will be responsible for developing and establishing UrtheCast’s UK operations as well as liaising with European contractors. 



           
            
            
         	
             			Strategic Partners
			


RSC Energia



RSC Energia, founded in 1946, is the largest aerospace company in Russia and one of the industry’s global leaders. It employs approximately 25,000 people and maintains operational and technical control of the Russian segment of the International Space Station. Energia focuses on both manned and unmanned space missions, rocket and launch systems, further development of the International Space Station, and other various technologies and services focused around advanced technologies and aerospace.
RSC Energia‘s many accomplishments include the launch of the first satellite in 1957 and the first manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961.




RAL Space



Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL Space) is part of the Science and Technologies Facility Council. RAL Space works alongside the UK Space Agency who co-ordinate UK civil space activities. RAL Space has around 200 staff who are dedicated to supporting the programmes of the UK Government and those of the other research councils and works with a large number of other agencies, industry players, and other commercial customers. RAL Space has been involved in over 200 space missions and is at the forefront of UK Space Research.
RAL Space is known around the world for undertaking world-leading space research and technology development, providing space test and ground-based facilities, designing and building instruments, and for operating S- and X-band ground-station facilities. RAL Space works with space and ground-based groups around the world.
The organization has ISO9001:2000 certification for the work it undertakes on both space and ground-based instruments.



           
            
            
         
				
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