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DIY Live Photos From ISS

Posted by kdawson on Mon Oct 13, 2008 06:19 PM
from the snaps-populi dept.
Space
leighklotz writes "The international amateur satellite organization AMSAT is reporting live reception of TV images directly from the orbiting ISS via the ARISS-SSTV project. The images are said to be preparations for the upcoming visit to the ISS by Richard Garriot (W5KWQ), which will provide images from space as part of the Windows on Earth project."
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[+] Soyuz With Richard Garriott Successfully Launched 56 comments
Toren Altair writes "Soyuz TMA-13 with ISS Expedition Crew 18 and Richard Garriott successfully launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 7:01 UT (3:01 EDT). The Soyuz capsule will dock to the ISS in two days. Garriott will return to Earth with Expedition 17 crew members, Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko on October 23." With the extra attention on this launch, the Russians have gone out of their way to say that the return of the Soyuz vehicle will be safe, after a couple of different malfunctions in the past year. Garriott is in space partly for recreation, and partly as a promotion for his latest MMO, Tabula Rasa. He took with him a hard drive filled with information about humanity, as well as DNA sequences from Tabula Rasa players and various celebrities (including Stephen Colbert and Stephen Hawking) to 'preserve' that data in case of a disaster on Earth. Garriott will also spend time running and participating in experiments. Coverage of the Soyuz mission is ongoing at NASATV.
Submission: DIY Live photos from ISS by leighklotz (192300)
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  • . . . will we get to see Garriot continue on to Planet X to get a blessing from Father Antos?

  • Nice! (Score:3, Funny)

    by DJ DeFi (1344863) on Monday October 13 2008, @06:39PM (#25362973) Homepage
    This page is used to test the proper operation of the Apache HTTP server after it has been installed. If you can read this page, it means that the web server installed at this site is working properly, but has not yet been configured.

    • If you are a member of the general public:

      The fact that you are seeing this page indicates that the website you just visited is either experiencing problems, or is undergoing routine maintenance.

      If you would like to let the administrators of this website know that you've seen this page instead of the page you expected, you should send them e-mail. In general, mail sent to the name "webmaster" and directed to the website's domain should reach the appropriate person.

      For example, if you experienced problems wh

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by sharkman67 (548107)
      That's because the url in the article is wrong. AMSAT is http://www.amsat.org/ [amsat.org]

  • Windows on Earth? (Score:4, Funny)

    by SEWilco (27983) on Monday October 13 2008, @06:53PM (#25363093) Homepage Journal
    Windows on Earth? I thought the Microsoft license forbade such a large use. Well, it will be interesting to see what breaks.

  • I have a question... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 13 2008, @06:54PM (#25363101)

    What would happen if a non-Governmental body - something like, say Wikipedia, only with money, or maybe a slightly eccentric billionaire - were to put ultra high resolution imagers into orbit, with the same capabilities as secret spy satellites and permitted anybody to look at anywhere on Earth - anywhere , at anytime, and pay nothing, or perhaps a token fee? Would the birds be shot down? Would the government (any government) pass legislation forbidding the use of the high-res imagery except by "approved" organisations?

    Yeah, I know, not a particularly realistic scenario, but I am interested in any answers.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by dlgeek (1065796)
      There are already regulations prohibiting publishing images above a certain resolution. See the thread the other day on the new google (branded) satellite for more info.

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Sure, American legislation, which doesn't apply to other countries or space. Wikipedia for instance doesn't really have a country of origin.

        The most they could do is to shut down the DNS if its in America and/or block it from within America.

        Like what happened with Wikileaks, which was just a domain name block and easily accessible using DNS names such as .be

        I don't really understand what the problem is with hires sat images, they are already hires enough to see things like tanks, military base layouts and s

      • Then I'm pretty sure they'd have to answer to the FAA...

        • The US owns the world now? But a little more seriously, perhaps they'd quietly contract a hit out on the satellite to the Chinese. They've already shown an ability to blowup satellites in orbit.

    • They'd put the paparazzi out of businesses.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by guruevi (827432)

      Actually, with Google shooting (or at least helping out) stuff in orbit that scenario seems to be quite realistic. Nowadays it's just too expensive and not very cost effective to shoot a hunk-a-junk with a camera into space and let everyone have access to it (especially since it would most likely bankrupt the companies that rely on reselling their imagery) but I think Google and the like might actually be able to pull it off, if not just for a marketing stunt. The images would most likely also have to be po

  • That crashed pretty quick, only 8 comments and the site is already down.

    I want pretty pictures damnit!!!

  • 145.800 megahertz (Score:3, Informative)

    by atomicthumbs (824207) <atomicthumbs AT gmail DOT com> on Monday October 13 2008, @07:11PM (#25363215) Homepage
    ... is the downlink frequency. Listen! Use MMSSTV [amateur-radio.ca] to decode. Sadly, I can barely hear it at 5:10 PM in California with my HT. I need a better antenna. :(
    • Last I heard SSTV was all but done for due to people transmitting pron. Whats your experience?

      On a semi-side note, I wonder if anyone has transmitted goatse?
      • Never heard of anything like that. If that were the case, any mode allowing transmission of data would be dead. SSTV (from what I hear) is alive and well. KI6EFA
      • Well, I know that the local SSTV net here is still somewhat active. I've caught a decent amount of it while traveling as well. I'd say it's not dead yet, even if it is in a bit of a decline. 73, K1PUP

      • ...whoops. I misread that. Preview would have been my friend. Let me add that I've not seen anything like that transmitted on SSTV, nor have even heard about that happening.

        73 once more,
        K1PUP

        P.S. Wow, I sure hope nobody has transmitted /that/...

    • Re:145.800 megahertz (Score:4, Informative)

      by Gordonjcp (186804) on Tuesday October 14 2008, @03:20AM (#25366051) Homepage

      Have a look for the WA5VJB "Cheap Yagi" articles. They are fairly easy to make, and give quite an improvement. I built a crossed 2m/70cm yagi - 3 ele on 2m, 5 ele on 70cm, with a diplexer - for LEO satellite work. It took about an hour, all told. I found that tuning up the 2m end was a bit tricky because the tuning is fairly "narrow", but if you're receiving that shouldn't be a biggie. If you can hear the ISS *at all* with an HT's rubber duck, then even a bad 3 element yagi will help!

      You might also try angling the radio so that the rubber duck antenna is perpendicular to the satellite pass. Think about it - the antenna has a radiation pattern like a doughnut, so you want that to have its widest point looking at the satellite. Another thing to try is holding it above a car roof or bonnet (yes, really), so that it acts like a reflector. Experiment to find the best distance - you'll hear quite a sharp peak. This actually works best with UHF downlinks, but it should work with VHF too if your car is big enough ;-)

  • Source for non-slashdotted pix (Score:5, Informative)

    by leighklotz (192300) on Monday October 13 2008, @07:11PM (#25363219) Homepage

    Their blog [blogspot.com] has a few of the test pictures received (of of Exp. 17 Commander) Sergei Volkov. These were received in Portugal and the US. Other images will doubtless show on their blogspot site one Garriot gets involted.

  • SSTV is cool! I'm not set up for it now but I was for Mir. Have fun Hams! Got to get set up again! 73!

  • Wow! I never knew there was a live camera onboard the ISS.. Guess I gotta get back active again.. Haven't touched a mike or key in over 3 years, but just renewed the ticket..

    73 K7DGF

  • For all the non-hams reading this, it should be pointed out that SSTV transmits images based on the same technical principles as television, but that it's not video. The transmission of a single "frame" takes several dozen seconds. This has several advantages, however. The greatest is probably that the requirements for signal quality and receiving equipment are much lower than for TV, meaning that anyone interested will be able to pick up those images with relatively little tech on the ground.

  • There are more new pix, this time with the earth in them, from October 16 [blogspot.com]

  • With no fewer than six links in the summary, which one actually points to the photos being referenced?

    I'd click them all, but I only have time to write this indignant comment.

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