Friday Eye Candy: Full-Color, HD Videos Taken from Space

For the first time, full-color videos of the earth's surface will be made available to the public, with added options for paying customers. The imagery comes from two cameras on the International Space Station.

1 minute read

July 3, 2015, 5:00 AM PDT

By Philip Rojc @PhilipRojc

NASA Goddard Space Flight / Flickr

The satellite imagery company Urthecast "operates two cameras on the International Space Station that cost $35 million to develop. Today, it unveiled the first full-color video of earth taken from space."

The video content, which will be the first of its kind made available to the public (rather than military intelligence), gives viewers a bird's-eye view of cities, with moving traffic visible. "The company plans to offer the imagery in several tiers, from a free video feed on its website to an API that will allow customers, including corporations, governments and individuals, to purchase imagery data from its database or make real-time requests for a look at a given spot on the earth."

Urthecast seems keen to address privacy concerns: "And if you're freaked out about being filmed from above, Urthecast's executives say that their cameras can't see faces or identify license plates–but also that 50 or more cameras on government satellites could be taking pictures of you every day." See the article for several clips of the footage.

FULL STORY: These are the first full-color HD videos of earth from the International Space Station

Wednesday, June 17, 2015 in Quartz

Environment Land Use World Satellite Imagery International Space Station Urthecast Bird's Eye View Mapping Cartography Aerial Photography View More

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