UrtheCast: Cameras for Live Video Views of Planet Earth To Launch Nov. 25

11-18-2013 • universetoday.com

A Canadian camera system aiming to provide near-realtime video views of Earth is readying for a launch from Kazakhstan. If all goes well, the UrtheCast dual camera system will blast off in a Progress supply ship on Nov. 25, 2013. This will be the world’s first ever high definition, live-streaming video platform of planet Earth from the International Space Station. “Imagine you have a nearly live Google Earth, but it isn’t four year old data – you have data that is being refreshed all the time, with videos coming down over interesting areas where interesting events are going on, showing you what is changing, what is going on,” said George Tyc, the Chief Technology Officer at UrtheCast, in an interview with Universe Today earlier this year. “What we really hope to pull off is to change the paradigm, get the everyday person interacting and seeing the data coming down from space to see the Earth and how it is evolving over time in a way that isn’t available right now.”