New ISS cameras set to provide high quality Earth views in n

http://www.gizmag.com/iss-urthecast-space-hd-camera/30709/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=18a14fc083-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-18a14fc083-90245106

New ISS cameras set to provide high quality Earth views in near real time

On Jan. 27, two Russian Cosmonauts undertook a six hour spacewalk in order to install two new British-manufactured Earth imaging cameras to the Russian segment of the ISS. The initiative, announced in 2011, will allow anyone with an internet connection access to the near-live feed, which will provide higher quality results than the currently-installed standard definition cameras.

The recent spacewalk comes after an unsuccessful installation attempt on Dec, 27, 2013, when an error occurred after the cameras were put in place. The issue meant that no telemetry was received by the Russian Mission Control Center located outside of Moscow, leading to a removal of the cameras by the cosmonauts, followed by an investigation into the cause of the malfunction.

During last Monday's spacewalk, Expedition 38 Commander Oleg Kotov and fellow cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy successfully re-installed the two cameras. Unfortunately, there are reportedly still telemetry issues with the medium resolution camera.

UrtheCast (pronounced “Earth-cast”), is the Canadian company that will operate and govern the use of the cameras. It released a statement on Jan, 28, stating that both cameras where in fact successfully installed and that “contrary to the online broadcast of the installation, the telemetry was received by Mission Control Central near Moscow”. The release went on to affirm that the telemetry received by Moscow was within expected results and that the company could now begin to look ahead to the unveiling of its “Ultra HD color video of Earth” service.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/iss_ustream.html#.UvIc-PldV8F
http://www.urthecast.com/features