Google (GOOG) Earth provides Web users with basic global satellite imagery periodically updated. “It’s always sunny,” says Scott Larson, “and the car is parked out front.” Soon, Larson says, his startup, UrtheCast, will begin broadcasting high-resolution, near-live global images and video from the cameras it’s planning to affix to the International Space Station.
A Russian rocket flying to the space station in October will drop off about 238 pounds of the Canadian company’s equipment, including the first nondefense high-definition video camera for filming earth from space. UrtheCast’s 4.5-foot-long camera, designed to handle the radiation and extreme temperatures of orbit, will record 90-second videos 150 times a day as the spacecraft circles the planet, Larson says. A second camera will continuously snap still photos. Together, the stills will cover a 47.3-kilometer-wide swath of the planet and generate 2.5 terabytes of data a day, the equivalent of about 270 full-length movies. UrtheCast’s engineers will condense and post the visuals to the company’s website an hour or two later. “With our images, you can see things moving and changing,” Larson says. Read more…
Posted from Fast Company, April 5, 2013 ///// by Kit Eaton
Urthecast says that two high-resolution cameras, one for video and one for stills, will be launched into space in October on a Russian rocket and bolted to the International Space Station’s hull by the end of the month. Then, a few months later, they’ll be turned on and start streaming content live to the Earth.
The imaging systems have about a one-meter resolution, which means they won’t be able to see people–even cars will be just a few pixels across (far poorer resolution than spy satellites can see, for example). But, the cameras will be able to see things like crowds, stadium shows, and potentially even news events like plane crashes and floods.
In effect, the feed will be a very public eye on the Earth that can potentially drive conversations about news, environmental matters, and even political actions–in a very unique way. The UN plans to use the feeds for crisis monitoring.
Pictures from the space station, taken by hand, have often captured the world’s imagination, such as NASA’s amazing Black Marble imagery. The most recent ISS crews have also racked up an extraordinary number of Earth observation photos, such as the image of New York above.
Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) April 05, 2013 ///// Announced today, the hotly anticipated launch date for the world’s first Earth video camera in space has been set for October 16, 2013. Launched within the Progress 53P Space Cargo Ship, aboard a Russian ‘Soyuz’ Rocket, two UrtheCast cameras will launch to the ISS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, along with a payload of Space Station supplies.
“This is a watershed moment for UrtheCast, paving the way for the rest of our plan as we work to complete a ground station network, the interactive UrtheCast web platform, and rigorous camera testing,” said UrtheCast President and CEO Scott Larson. “Being placed on the Russian Space Agency’s Progress manifest solidifies a decisive step towards UrtheCast’s official platform launch.”
Vancouver, BC, March 26th, 2013 –- Wade Larson, co-founder of hotly-tipped Canadian Space tech startup UrtheCast, has been chosen as one of the ‘world’s most remarkable voices’ by being asked to speak at the prestigious TEDxWaterloo ‘chasingHOME’ event in Kitchener, Ontario, on March 27th.
Article By Calgary Herald, posted from MARIO TONEGUZZI
A technology company, based in Vancouver and Calgary, that is working on the world’s first near-live HD video feed of Earth from space, has secured an exclusive partnership with the Science Channel to bring viewers images from the International Space Station as it orbits over 200 miles above Earth.
The programming will be developed once UrtheCast’s HD cameras are installed on the ISS and video streaming begins. Read more.
Soon the rest of humanity will get to watch what astronauts see when they look out of the windows of the International Space Station.
“There’s something that astronauts have that’s described as the overview effect,” says Wade Larson, co-founder of Urthecast. “They often get very philosophical, and even emotional, when they describe this effect when they step out of the Earth’s gravitational pull, and looking back and seeing what the planet looks like. It’s a sense of connectedness and you know, the big picture in the sense of ecological fragility.” Read more.
A Canadian company plans to one-up Google Earth by streaming video footage straight from the International Space Station to the web with a top time delay of just a few hours.
Urthecastis due to begin beaming the view from the ISS by autumn 2013 — the equipment will be finished by the summer, then shipped to Russia and sent to the space station via two Soyuz rockets. Once there, the Russian space agency will install it beneath the ISS and downlink the data to Earth where it will be published. Read more.
A Vancouver-based company hopes to have two cameras hooked up to the International Space Station sometime this year that will offer Internet users a new twist on the aerial imagery offered by Google and other companies.
Unlike the satellite images users are already familiar with, which usually are months if not years out of date, Urthecast (pronounced Earth-cast) is promising to continually update its site with fresh photos and video. Read more.
Article by Mario Toneguzzi, posted from the Calgary Herald.
A technology company, based in Calgary and Vancouver, that is working on the world’s first near-live HD video feed of Earth from space, has appointed the former Canadian Space Agency president to its board of directors.
UrtheCast said William ‘Mac’ Evans will help guide the international tech startup in providing the video stream from the International Space Station. Read more.