NASA, which monitors the vital signs of the Earth with a good fleet of space satellites, in order to check everything that happens on Earth, air and in space, presents us with a spectacular view from the International Space Station (ISS ) at 4K resolution or ultra-high definition.
As we already know, the ISS has the wide variety of experiments that help climate research, monitoring hurricanes and other atmospheric phenomena, pollution, responding to disasters or weather predictions.
This high-detail tour, thanks to 4K technology, provides us with 30 to 60 images per second. As a curiosity, this uncompressed video would occupy about 300 Gbs.
These impressive images of the Earth are also captured with four high-definition cameras, isolated from high temperatures, in a NASA experiment called the ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment (HDEV), which allows us to feel closer to space than ever.
The ISS activated its experiment on April 30, 2014. The cameras, located in the external payload facility of ESA’s Columbus module, began transmitting live video to the world on May 1, 2014. Since the ISS is Plunged in darkness for part of each orbit, images appear dark at times.
While the HDEV project collects beautiful images of the Earth, the scientists take the opportunity to carry out an engineering experiment: the objective, in addition to reporting on events in the Earth’s atmosphere, is to monitor the speed at which the image quality of the camera HD video degrades when exposed to the space environment , mainly due to damage from cosmic rays. In addition, it allows to verify the effectiveness of the design of the casing with which the cameras are insulated, for thermal control.
The four cameras in the HDEV experiment are oriented in different directions. This provides various viewing angles for the viewer. Only one camera can work at a time. As they cycle through, each camera must be turned off and the next camera must be turned on before HD video begins. Through this cycle, comparable data can be collected in each chamber; at the same time, they provide different perspectives for observing the Earth.
Analyzing the effect of space on video quality can help engineers decide which cameras are the best to use for future missions.
