Live Video Feed of Earth From Space

by
Anonymous Coward
in space on (#3JT)
story imageExtremetech reports :
After being continuously inhabited for more than 13 years, it is finally possible to log into Ustream and watch the Earth spinning on its axis in glorious HD. This video feed comes from from four high-definition cameras, delivered by last month's SpaceX CRS-3 resupply mission, that are attached to the outside of the International Space Station. You can open up the Ustream page at any time, and as long as it isn't night time aboard the ISS, you'll be treated to a beautiful view of the Earth from around 250 miles (400 km) up.

The active video camera is connected to the ISS Columbus module via an Ethernet link, and then beamed down to the ground. From there, it looks like the video feed is combined with the current ISS-to-mission control audio feed, and then simply uploaded to Ustream . It's an impressively simple (and cheap) setup.
Reply 8 comments

Glorious SD (Score: 3, Interesting)

by fishybell@pipedot.org on 2014-05-02 18:41 (#1B9)

I'm not sure I'm willing to calling 480p HD. 720p would be my minimal limit. Not to say that I'm not loving it, but man I can't wait for the 4k live feed that I can reasonably expect to be on most of the time. At that point, I can see a TV (or projector) being dedicated to it, or at the very least as a live background to my monitor.

Nice but overexposed (Score: 2, Insightful)

by dnied@pipedot.org on 2014-05-02 22:14 (#1BC)

If only they adjusted the exposure a bit...
I would probably spend way too much time watching the show.

ISS Tracker (Score: 1)

by songofthepogo@pipedot.org on 2014-05-03 00:10 (#1BE)

Of course by the time I get around to checking this out the ISS is in darkness, so there's nothing to see. Turns out you can track the location of the ISS here .

Re: ISS Tracker (Score: 1)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2014-05-03 00:28 (#1BF)

I was wondering why the video was completely black. The first time I clicked the link, I thought it was just a fubar'd plugin or scripting problem.

Re: ISS Tracker (Score: 1)

by songofthepogo@pipedot.org on 2014-05-03 01:16 (#1BG)

I would've thought the same, but a timely comment pointed out the ISS tracking site. FWIW, the ISS is in the light, now, but the image is pretty over-exposed. It's difficult to make much out. Either that, or it's really cloudy...

That long, huh? (Score: 2, Funny)

by unitron@pipedot.org on 2014-05-03 15:44 (#1BN)

"After being continuously inhabited for more than 13 years, it is finally possible to log into Ustream and watch the Earth spinning on its axis in glorious HD."

I heard a rumor that Earth has been inhabited a lot longer than 13 years.

Then there's that other rumor about someone needing an exorcism.

Any non-flash options? (Score: 1)

by stderr@pipedot.org on 2014-05-03 21:47 (#1BS)

Does anyone have a link of a feed that doesn't need flash?