NASA released an interactive, 3-D photographic collection of internal and external views of the International Space Station and a model of the next Mars rover on Thursday, May 7.
NASA and Microsoft’s Virtual Earth team developed the online experience with hundreds of photographs and Microsoft’s photo imaging technology called Photosynth. Using a click-and-drag interface, viewers can zoom in to see details of the space station’s modules and
solar arrays or zoom out for a more global view of the complex.
The Space Station photo synth
Note: The PhotoSynth seems a bit flaky in FireFox – backgrounds disappear and Unknown Errors occur. Seems fine in IE (probably because the SilverLight browser add-on needed for display comes from Microsoft).
“Photosynth brings the public closer to our spaceflight equipment and hardware,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The space station pictures are not simulations or graphic representations but actual images taken recently by astronauts while in orbit. Although you’re not flying 220 miles above the Earth at 17,500 miles an hour, it allows you to navigate and view amazing details of the real station as though you were there.”
The software uses photographs from standard digital cameras to construct a 3-D view that can be navigated and explored online.
“This stunning collection of photographs using Microsoft’s Photosynth interactive 3-D imaging technology provides people around the world with an exciting new way to explore the space station and learn about NASA’s upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission,” said S. Pete Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “This collaboration with Microsoft offers the public the opportunity to participate in future exploration using this innovative technology.”
The Mars rover imagery gives viewers an opportunity to preview the hardware of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, currently being assembled for launch to the Red Planet in 2011.
“We are making this enhanced viewing experience available from the Mars Science Laboratory project because we’re eager for the public to share in the excitement that’s building for this mission,” said Fuk Li, manager of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
NASA’s Photosynth collection can be viewed at: http://www.nasa.gov/photosynth
The NASA images also can be viewed on Microsoft’s Virtual Earth Web site at: http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth
While roaming through different components of the station, the public also can join in a scavenger hunt. NASA has a list of items that can be found in the Photosynth collection. These items include a station crew patch, a spacesuit and a bell that is traditionally used to announce the arrival of a visiting spacecraft. Clues to help in the hunt will be posted on NASA’s Facebook page and @NASA on Twitter. To access these sites, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/collaborate
NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus took the internal images of the space station during the 129 days she lived aboard the complex. She photographed the station’s exterior while aboard the space shuttle Discovery, which flew her back to Earth in March. The rover images were taken of a full-scale model in a Mars-simulation testing area at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Photosynth has multiple potential benefits for NASA. Engineers can use it to examine hardware, and astronauts can use it for space station familiarization training.
Photosynth software allows the combination of up to thousands of regular digital photos of a scene to present a detailed 3-D model of a subject, giving viewers the sensation of smoothly gliding around the scene from every angle. A collection can be constructed using photos from a single source or multiple sources. The NASA Photosynth collection also includes shuttle Endeavour preparing for its STS-118 mission in August 2008.
For more information about the space station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
For more information about the Mars Science Laboratory, visit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
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International Space Station Videos:
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Filed under: Astronomy Product Reviews
The International Space Station is approximately 220 miles (354 km) from earth at any given time. The distance may change slightly due to drag from the atmosphere, but mainly, the International Space Station orbits the earth at this distance.
The relatively close distance, about the same as four and a half hours of travel on a highway, makes it possible for the continued assembly of parts of the Space Station. The Space Station completely orbits the earth in about 92 minutes. That is approximately 5700 trips around the earth per year. So from the time of launching in November 1998 to November 2006, the Space Station had circled the Earth over 40,000 times.
Since the launch of the first section of the Space Station, a cargo block and a proton rocket, there have been numerous expeditions to the Space Station. By 2006, 14 missions had been attempted in order to continue assembly. Projected completion of the Space Station is 2010.
As of 2006 three astronauts, or cosmonauts, have staffed the Space Station. Ultimately, it is expected that as many as six people may staff the space station. These are certainly not generous living conditions, just under 1400 square feet (425 square meters). The view is great, but the backyard is slightly dangerous to play in without safety precautions.
Expectations for readiness and for total costs have not been in keeping with actual results. The initial completion date of the Space Station was in 2005. Unfortunately, setbacks like the Columbia flight disaster of 2003, in which all seven astronauts aboard were killed, have delayed the completion. As well, problems with assembly on the ground have interfered with total completion of the Space Station.
The total cost of the Space Station when completed is likely to exceed 100 billion dollars. Many feel the expense is justified by the scientific gains that may be achieved. Others look to the cost as incidental compared to the projected benefits of good relationship between countries like Russia and the US that truly mark the end of the Cold War
I think society gets so caught up in its own present worries it dampens people's optimistic views of the future. Unfortunately, "news" doesn't 'sell' if it's not horrible so a lot of this good stuff goes by the wayside.
It's left to specialty magazines like Popular Science, and Air & Space to do these 'special interest' stories which is unfortunate because I think they are truly mainstream stories!
Here are some MORE neat space things happening!
Space "tourism" is already underway. Private citizens have hitched space rides to the (now defunct) Russian space station as well as the international space station. Scaled Composites
(winner of the 10 million dollar X-Prize for being the 1st privately funded company to place a man in space) along with a handful of other companies is planning to offer sub orbital (and later orbital) 'rides' into space for anyone willing to pay (and they have orders already).
Reuters is a company that has plans to open the first hotel in space says it's goal is to have its first paying guests by 2012.
Future plans by various start up companies include expansion of this tourism industry to include trips to the moon!
Spaceport America now being built in New Mexico is the first privately funded space launching facility to be constructed.
The real barrier to space has always been Earth's gravity well. It takes so much brute force to get anything into and beyond earth orbit! Over 90% of a rocket's fuel is spent just getting a payload to Earth orbit. From there it's easy to go to the Moon, Mars or anywhere in the solar system.
For space tourism and space exploration to really take off, we must find a much cheaper way to get into orbit. Things are looking hopeful here too!
The US Air Force's experimental scram jet X-51a Waverider offers promise as theoretically it (or a next generation scramjet) could boost a payload (with a much much smaller rocket) into orbit much more efficiently because, unlike a rocket, a scramjet doesn't have to carry it's own oxidizer for the fuel it burns.
Another promising technology (although farther away) is development of the so called "Space
which is literally an elevator that reaches all the way into Earth orbit! It would take incredibly long and STRONG tethers but new materials research says that nanotubes (20 times tougher than steel)would be strong enough.
Another promising technology in the works is the so called "Magnetoplasma Rocket" which could cut a journey from Earth to Mars to just 39 days (instead of the 6-9 months it now takes).
When all of this comes together, you will not only start to see interplanetary exploration, you might be the one going!