Firstly, what are Earth observation instruments? Secondly, why do we need them?
A recent report suggests a decline of U.S. Earth observation instruments within the next eight years, and it’s caused quite a buzz — especially over concerns that the losses could seriously hinder weather forecasting. In particular, the ability to spot tropical disturbances early and track their formation into hurricanes. Read more.
For people that suffer from nearsightedness, there is another option for correcting your eyesight if the idea of Lasik frightens you. The downside is this procedure costs quite a bit more and involves traveling out of the Earth’s atmosphere. A recent study published in the medical journal Radiology, found that astronauts experienced a flattening of the eyeball and increased pressure during prolonged spaceflight. This flattening process could have a positive impact on nearsightedness, however for astronauts with good vision the degenerative properties of the process could lead to possible blindness if left untreated. Read more.
Life at a tech start-up moves at a mile a minute. One second you’re readying HD video cameras for launch into space and the next you’re setting up a ground station network across the globe. Developing an engaging platform to view this HD video is no different
Celebrity sightings, parties, and web discussions aside, SXSW brings with it a host of interactions with some impressive characters — not only social media pundits, but with the scientific sort as well.
While part of our team was being interviewed, the rest were busy taking pictures of Urthelings and discovering ways people hope to use the UrtheCast platform when the cameras go live this year. Read more.
SXSW is not just about shaking hands, wheelin’ deals, and basking in the spotlight of creative prowess (okay, for some it’s totally about that), it’s also about the celebration of creativity. You might even say it’s the cultural renaissance fair of our modern age. (From digital gurus, to inspiring tech startups, to music, to film… what’s not to love!)
Nowadays, anyone can be a creator-designer-photographer-journalist-curator, merely by way of our digital world. So each year you’ve got to find creative ways to make heads turn — the same is true at SXSW. (Filming Earth from space and delivering it via an open-source, interactive platform is pretty creative, no?)
Now that the UrtheCast cameras are nearing completion and agreements have been solidified with MDA, RSC Energia, and the European Space Agency, we’re looking a little closer to home, directly at our interactive platform. Each year, the cultural significance of a conference like SXSW is heightened, which is why UrtheCast is journeying to the centre of it all, Austin Texas, to unveil Alpha One — the first iteration of our powerful new platform. So, beginning next week, SXSW attendees will be able to see, scroll, tap, pan, and zoom high-definition video footage on the UrtheCast platform.
Like Mars, the moon is being renewed as a go-to place for space exploration — another space race alongside commercial space travel. So, what is the moon hiding beneath its crust that has the world wanting to mine its depths? It’s got a lot to do with water and precious resources.
Did you know that the moon may be able to serve as a giant launch pad for exploration into deep space? Mining the moon could play a major role in launching the human race into outer space.
Last week, the heads of five major space agencies came together in Québec City, Quebec, to discuss the direction of the International Space Station (ISS). Attendees hailed from the most prominent territories in space exploration — Europe, the U.S., Russia, Canada, Japan — to discuss the focus of the ISS; a focus that lies not only with research and education, but with the commercialization of space endeavours.
It’s that time of the week again, Urthelings — it’s Friday. Time to kick back, hang out with your loved ones, and take stock in all that you’ve accomplished for this week. What’s even better, it’s time for UrtheCast’s Discover Urthe contest! So get ready to win some sweet stuff by perusing the UrtheCast site for the answer to this week’s question:
It’s the stuff that Hollywood movies are made of: scientists announced this week that there’s an asteroid headed towards Earth… but don’t start building that backyard bunker just yet.
SPACE.com reported yesterday, Tuesday February 28, that a 460-foot-wide asteroid (named 2011 AG5) is scheduled to cross Earth’s orbit by the year 2040. The European Space Agency doesn’t consider this a ‘real threat’, but scientists are keeping an eye on this enormous space rock, in the event that the situation should come to blows.
Threats and bunkers aside, what if you could get a closer look at an asteroid, or any other celestial body? What if we reversed the HD video cameras that we’re mounting to the International Space Station? We’d have what would essentially be a telescope in space.
These are precisely the types of questions that UrtheCast is posing now that our cameras are nearing completion.
